Abstract
This article reviews the literature on platforms and sheds light on the design principles, economics fundamentals, and business strategies associated with platforms. We divide the discussion into two main types: product platforms designed by individual companies or assemblers of closed supply chains to develop new products or services on the basis of common and reusable components and architectures, and industry platforms which act as a foundation for an ecosystem of firms to develop a set of interrelated products and services. Present in a variety of organizational contexts, platforms create value for innovative ecosystem participants by structuring the innovation process around core and complementary elements and by creating the network effects that accelerate the adoption and use of platforms. With increased globalization of innovation capabilities, we expect the phenomenon of platforms to become an important new form of industrial organization. We conclude with highlighting concerns associated with platform dominance.