Author(s)

Anssi Smedlund, Petra Turkama, Heini Ikävalko

Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR), Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki, Finland.

Digital platform based markets are starting to dominate many sectors of the economy and society. Apple Healthkit and Google Fit are examples of fitness data platforms and focal points of connected preventive healthcare markets. Application developers are increasingly complementing platforms instead of bringing stand-alone services to the market. However, studies on these complementors’ strategies are still rare. This paper examines complementors’ strategies in joining digital platforms in preventive healthcare sector through an exploratory case study. The strategies are created by identifying themes and subthemes from interviews with complementors, and evaluating them through effectual reasoning lens. Effectual reasoning is selected as the assessment approach due to increased ecosystem complexity and strategic choices caused by accumulating end-user data, processes, user experience and emerging communities. This paper states that complementors can attach their application not only to the stable technological core maintained by the platform owner, but also dynamic elements being co-created among other platform participants. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion and platform literature on complementor strategies.

Preventive Healthcare Platforms, Complementor Strategies, Effectual Reasoning

Smedlund, A. , Turkama, P. and Ikävalko, H. (2018) Digital Health Platform Complementor Strategies and Effectual Reasoning. Journal of Service Science and Management, 11, 360-373. doi: 10.4236/jssm.2018.114025.