The governance of platform development processes: A metaphor and a simulation model

Platform market competition has been extensively researched, but the governance of the platform development process prior to market launch has received little attention. We develop a system dynamics simulation model using the avalanche game as a metaphor for platform development. We describe a typical platform development process, and show how this process corresponds to the game. To examine the role of incentives for consensus building in platform development, we extend the original simulation model of the avalanche game using literature on platform development. This provides insights about how platform governance incentives influence the platform development process. Specifically, we find that under high degrees of urgency, consensus is achieved more quickly when a greater number of participants are involved in a standards committee. We explain this counterintuitive notion by making use of the literature on decision-making in networks of interdependencies. •We focus on the governance of the platform development process.•We develop a simulation model of the process using incentives for consensus building.•Consensus is achieved more quickly when urgency is high and many actors are involved.•This is explained using theory of decision-making in networks of interdependencies.