The elements of platform leadership

Building on in-depth research at Intel, a company that excels in shaping its environment, it is shown how organizations can maximize innovation. First, companies must decide if their platform leaders (companies that drive industrywide innovation for an evolving system of separately developed pieces), wannabes, (companies that want to be platform leaders) or complementors (companies that make ancillary products that expand the platform's market. Managers have 2 major challenges: coordinating internal units that play one or more of those roles and interacting effectively with outsiders playing the same roles at different times. Four levers (including productive ways to work with complementors and techniques for building a supportive internal organization) of platform leadership are delineated, and practical advice to complementors is provided as well. Guidelines on when companies should show their cards to competitors and when to hold them are also provided.