Journal of Management Information Systems
We study how app competitiveness evolves through intertemporal shifts between proprietary code and platform-sourced functionality. We introduce the novel mechanism of boundary morphing—apps expanding their boundaries by adding proprietary code or contracting them by increasing platform-sourced functionality—by integrating transaction cost economics (TCE) with platforms theory. Using seven years of data from over 600 AndroidOS apps, we show that platform specificity and market uncertainty drive boundary contraction, while frequent updates counterintuitively catalyze boundary expansion.
Stephen Kim is the John D. DeVries Endowed Chair in Business and a professor of marketing at the Ivy College of Business. His paper is published in the Journal of Management Information Systems.