In the early 2000s, the German government introduced the Hartz reforms, which deregulated German labor markets. These reforms were praised internationally as striking a balance between job growth and productivity growth. While macroeconomic research has shown that the reforms have indeed lowered German unemployment, their effects on labor productivity need to be better understood. This paper addresses the impact of temporary agency work (TAW) on German labor productivity during 2010–2019, based on data from a firm-level panel of the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB). It contributes to the rising number of firm-level studies by extending their results in a broader temporal perspective, during which TAW intensities have increased substantially, especially in TAW-using firms. The system generalized method of moment (GMM) estimations based on a firm-level data set with 13,197 observations for the period 2010–2019 show that a robust hump-shaped relationship exists between the extent of TAW and the firms’ labor productivity. We find that the increase in the use of TAWs following the Hartz reforms has, on average, positively contributed to labor productivity growth in German firms. However, the findings also show that if numerical flexibility is increased too much, productivity growth in Germany will suffer. This is particularly the case for several industrial sectors that are important in the German economy. These results are important given recent calls for more labor market flexibility to help firms grow in an increasingly turbulent global economy.@en

Platforms are often seen as the most influential organizational form of our time. Harnessing the strengths of external parties allows for unprecedented innovation (e.g., Facebook, iOS). Platforms aggregate and match participants in fragmented markets (e.g., Craigslist, Marktplaats, Airbnb). As such, platforms often become the epicenters of industries and have often replaced incumbents. What leads to market power and growth of platforms? Understanding this is important if we want to create platforms where they are beneficial to the economy and society and counteract or regulate them where they are harmful. This dissertation investigates how platform participation and platform performance are related to each other. Participation refers to installing and using a technology. From the economics perspective, performance includes mostly financial indicators such as revenues or profit. However, it can also concern other indicators, for instance, the participation of complementors or users. Under network effects, current participation increases the platform’s value to future users, which is closely linked to performance. This dissertation consists of four chapters that together address the main research question. It draws on evolutionary economics, platform economics, and strategic management. It consists of conceptual (Chapters 2, 5, and parts of Chapter 3) and empirical studies (Chapters 3 and 4). @en

Mission-oriented innovation policy is currently gaining renewed interest as an approach for addressing societal challenges. One of the promises is that missions can mobilise and align diverse stakeholders around a shared goal. Recent literature underlines the importance of public participation (e.g. municipalities and civil society organisations) in the socioeconomic transformations required for attaining missions. We ask how public participation differs among (non-)mission-oriented innovation projects. Drawing on a database containing Dutch government-funded innovation projects, we investigate whether mission-oriented projects are associated with earlier, more open, and more influential forms of public participation than conventional projects. Although the results suggest that mission-oriented projects indeed correspond with earlier participation of more public actors, we find little evidence that they also coincide with increased diversity and financial influence of public participants. We conclude by discussing how policymakers and intermediaries may engage in strategies to make missions more inclusive.@en

Recent theoretical advances hold that platforms comprise a second strategic dimension next to size, called identity, which describes the platform's technological and market scope. Letting go of platform size as the main criterion for platform value opens the possibility for platforms to pursue differentiation strategies with a distinct market positioning. The concept of optimal distinctiveness (OD) implies that differentiation can be optimized so that it maximizes performance. In this paper, we draw on recent OD research in and outside of the field of platforms and elaborate on the role of platform size within the distinctiveness framework. We discuss platform size and identity in the context of OD and suggest propositions for future research. The paper contributes to the management of platforms and OD in platform markets by showing how a platform's distinctiveness strategy may depend on its size. We contribute to platform management across various platform sizes and to research on OD in platform markets.@en

As digital platforms are dominating the digital economy, complex ecologies of platforms are emerging. While the openness of digital platforms is an important theme in platform studies, the openness between platforms has hardly been studied. This paper explores factors that affect decisions by platform owners to open their platforms to other platforms. The focus is on Internet-of-Things platforms for automotive and healthcare applications. According to the findings, platform owners make trade-offs on whether to open up on a case-by-case basis. We identify a complex array of factors relating to direct benefits and costs (e.g., revenues from selling platform data), indirect benefits (e.g., attractiveness of the focal platform to users) as well as strategic consideration (e.g., improving bargaining power towards other actors). How businesses make trade-offs on these factors depends on market-level context (e.g., maturity of the market and standards) and organizational context (e.g., strategic focus and business objectives). Our findings provide a basis for future studies on the openness between platforms, which will become increasingly important as platforms proliferate in every layer of the digital industry.@en

Four extensive literature reviews on factors for innovation success in terms of market, strategic and social impact for additive manufacturing were performed where the focus lies on three levels of analysis; (inter)organizational, business model, and project.@en

Purpose: This paper addresses the most important factors for the selection of additive manufacturing (AM) technology as a method of production of metal parts. AM creates objects by adding material layer by layer based on 3D models. At present, interest in AM is high as it is hoped that AM contributes to the competitiveness of Western manufacturing industries. Design/methodology/approach: A literature study is conducted to identify the factors that affect the selection of AM technology. Expert interviews and the best–worst method are used to prioritize these factors based on relative factor weights. Findings: Technology, demand, environment and supply-related factors are categorized and further mapped to offer a holistic picture of AM technology selection. According to expert assessments, market demand was ranked highest, although market demand is currently lacking. Research limitations/implications: The composition and size of the expert panel and the framing of some of the factors in light of previous literature cause validity limitations. Further research is encouraged to differentiate the selection factors for different AM implementation projects. Originality/value: The paper presents a more complete framework of factors for innovation selection in general and the selection of AM technology specifically. This framework can serve as a basis for future studies on technology selection in the (additive) manufacturing sector and beyond. In addition to AM-specific factor weights, the paper explains why specific factors are important, reducing uncertainty for managers that have to choose between alternative manufacturing technologies.

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