Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation [Hardcover]

Annabelle Gawer (Author), Michael A. Cusumano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2002

It is the fundamental challenge of the high-tech sector: A firm must innovate internally to succeed - yet its success may equally depend on corresponding innovations by external firms. Whether a company develops a ubiquitous operating system or the software that runs on it, a VCR or the movies we play on it, every participant in a high-tech network is vulnerable to the innovative moves of its partners and competitors. Yet, in spite of this perilous situation, some firms have developed strategies that have made them industry powerhouses and world-class innovators. How? By becoming platform leaders - companies that provide the technological foundation on which other products, services, and systems are built.Platform leadership is the Holy Grail of high-tech industries, but it is difficult to achieve. In "Platform Leadership", high-tech strategy experts Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano reveal how Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco, as well as companies including Palm and NTT DoCoMo, have orchestrated industry innovations to support their products - and, in the process, established dominant market positions.Based on these in-depth case studies and on incisive analysis, the authors present their Four Levers Framework for designing and implementing a successful platform strategy-or for improving an existing strategy: Determine the scope of the firm - Is it preferable to create product complements internally or let the "market" produce them? ; Design product technology strategically - What degree of modularity is appropriate? Should product interfaces be open or closed? What information should leaders disclose to outside firms?; Shape relationships with external complementors - How can the company balance competition and collaboration with outside players?; Optimize internal organizational structures - What processes and systems will allow the company to manage internal and external conflicts of interest most effectively?For executives, strategists, and entrepreneurs in many high-tech arenas, this book shows how firms can orchestrate innovation to ensure their own competitive futures - and drive the evolution of their industry. Annabelle Gawer is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Management at INSEAD. Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School, editor-in-chief and chairman of the board of the Sloan Management Review, and coauthor of the bestseller "Microsoft Secrets".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Certain products, like the VCR and the microprocessor, are far more valuable as the center of a network of ancillary items than they ever could become on their own. Platform Leadership, by Annabelle Gawer and Michael A. Cusumano, examines how a handful of firms has maximized this position--or are attempting to do so--and proposes a framework that other businesses can use to establish similar game plans. Combining original research with analysis that draws upon their experiences as professors specializing in high-tech strategy, Gawer and Cusumano focus on Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Palm, NTT DoCoMo, and supporters of the Linux operating system to show how to establish and expand this vital hub positioning. Their four-pronged approach concentrates on scope (what firms produce on their own and encourage others to produce), technology (how much detail about product architecture and design they should disclose to outsiders), alliances (how collaborative or competitive their relationships with those outsiders should be), and organization (what structures best balance subsequent external and internal conflicts). The examples selected illustrate varying methods for walking the fine line required to achieve "platform leadership" and will provide food for thought along with practical guidance for others interested in attaining similar status. --Howard Rothman

About the Author

Annabelle Gawer is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Management at INSEAD.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1st edition (April 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578515149
• ISBN-13: 978-1578515141
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant strategy for circumventing anti-trust law, July 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (Hardcover)

"a highly effective way of skirting antitrust law" - Professor Ross Anderson. This brilliant book shows how to lock in your customers and lock-out your competitors without falling foul of anti-trust law. Read, learn, inwardly digest ... then go out and make a killing. No serious marketing executive can ignore this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's good to have powerful friends!, January 5, 2005

By 

Hobie Bryan "Hobie" (Silicon Valley) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (Hardcover)

This book is an extension of the excellent Sloan (MIT) article Ms. Gawer co-wrote a couple of years back. The book does an excellent job of articulating the concepts of modularity in design, and the management of technology ecosystems.

It is easier to gain a market if your interests are aligned around a platform that is well organized. At the same time, the large platform leaders she cites (Intel, Microsoft, Cisco) are hardly benevolent organizations....so it seems that a small degree of skepticism should accompany accepting anything that the 'platform leader' offers. This look at what leadership means is very enlightening, and made me wonder how open source solutions can succeed without a change in tactics.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars important for open-source enthusiasts as well, May 30, 2002

By 

Philip Greenspun (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (Hardcover)

Having spent five years trying to establish an open-source software platform standard, in retrospect it would have been awfully nice to have had this book. If you're going to compete with the big commercial firms you have to be comparable to or better than they are in as many areas as possible.