Value creation in digital platform business models: value conceptualizations, value dimensions and value logics

To better understand the uniqueness and benefits of digital platforms, this chapter provides a comprehensive overview of value conceptualizations in the digital platform literature and presents a framework for analyzing and strategizing platform business models. Structured by the value dimensions of the business model construct, we classify the value conceptualizations of the platform literature as sources of value creation, means of value delivery and mechanisms of value capture. Further, we discuss how and why these value dimensions are linked together in systematic relationships - what we term “value logics”. Value logics describe platform participants’ underlying beliefs about how platforms create value, including how the interplay of resources and capabilities affect value creation and delivery, and how value is captured both through efficiency measures and differentiating advantages. We exemplify with four fundamental value logics and identify if and how these are specific to platform business models compared to traditional pipeline business models. Finally, we discuss how the value logics may be theorized using extant theory in strategic management, such as the firm positioning, resource-based and capability perspectives, and how research on platform-specific value logics may enrich these theoretical perspectives.