Actor Positioning and Its Implications to Value Co-Creation in SaaS Ecosystems

Research on platform ecosystems often takes a binary view of the ecosystem and its actors by dividing the actors belonging either to the core or the periphery of the platform. Platform ecosystems tend to be more nuanced, however, and contain a variety of groups of actors with different roles and interests. These different groups of actors seek to occupy and defend particular positions in the ecosystem that enable them to capture the maximum amount of value from the value co-creation occurring in the ecosystem. By studying SaaS ecosystems, this research maps the positions the different actors seek to occupy and the impact these have to the value creation processes and evolution of platform ecosystems. The results further highlight the preferred positions of the different actors and demonstrates how the interests of the actors are not always aligned but may also lead to value co-destruction instead of value co-creation.