When Suppliers Meet Complementors: Impacts on Supplier Membership in Apple’s Ecosystem

Abstract

Ecosystem governance has gained significant traction in strategy research. Contrary to the prevailing focus on complementors, we examine why the ecosystem leader continues or terminates suppliers’ ecosystem membership. Departing from the view of buyer-supplier relationships, we address the multilateral interdependence inherent in an ecosystem, unveiling the overlooked production complementarities between upstream and downstream actors. Based on a sample of 320 Apple’s suppliers between 2012 and 2020, we find that the ecosystem leader is less likely to terminate its relationship with suppliers who have formed alliances with complementors. This effect diminishes as the ecosystem leader faces rolebased and activity-based alignment challenges, arising from its technological dependence on suppliers and suppliers’ environmental uncertainty, respectively. The study contributes to research on multilateral interdependence, ecosystem governance, and alignment challenges.

Speaker Biography

Liang Chen is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Singapore Management University. His recent research on platform ecosystems and digital strategy appears in Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, and Harvard Business Review. He also has lasting research interests in multinational firms, emerging markets, global strategy, corporate strategy, and the theory of the firm. Liang won the AOM IM Division Emerging Scholar Award, and was a finalist of the Alan M. Rugman Most Promising Scholar Award. He is Senior Editor of International Business Review and of Management and Organization Review, and Consulting Editor at Journal of International Management. He is a JIBS/JOM Editorial Review Board member, JIBS Best Reviewer, and JIBS guest editor.