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Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 16810

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luca Carrubbo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Business Sciences, Management and Innovation Systems (DISA-MIS), University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Interests: business management; smart service systems; system thinking; complexity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xhimi Hysa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
EPOKA University, ‎Tirana, Albania
Interests: social business and sustainability; group dynamics; viable systems approach; service-dominant logic; leadership
Dr. Francesca Iandolo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: sustainability; complexity; systems thinking; viable systems approach; project management; organizational cybernetics; service science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are calling for papers in a Special Issue of the journal Sustainability. The main research topic regards sustainability in the platform ecosystems era. The recent disruptive rise of platforms has shaped both people’s lives and a new economic paradigm. While most of the recent research has been focused on platforms’ configuration, boundaries, actors’ role, and ecosystems’ configurations (Gawer, 2014; Gawer & Cusumano, 2002a, 2002b, 2008, 2014; Cusumano et al., 2019; Van Alstyne & Parker, 2017; Parker & Van Alstyne, 2012, 2018; Benkler, 2006; Barile et al. 2016; Jacobides et al., 2018; Fuller et al., 2019; Adner, 2016), other research about the implications of economic, social, and environmental sustainability has been almost neglected (Zarra et al., 2019). Under this view, the current Special Issue aims at investigating the economic, social, and environmental impacts of platforms ecosystems as well as the new managerial and organizational implications in terms of sustainability that are derived from this recent phenomenon of platformization. Accordingly, this Special Issue welcomes scientific contributions for discussing these issues.

Topics

This call for papers seeks foundation-building research on sustainability in the platform ecosystems era. We welcome original contributions related to both theoretical and practical aspects as per the following themes:

  • Economics (i.e., the overall impact of platforms on competition, tax regulation, and business configurations, etc.), social (i.e., privacy and data protection, social inequality, labor standards compared to the old industries, and new labor models, etc.), and environmental (environmental costs of computation, the lack of a global strategy on climate change, and the environmental footprint of platforms, etc.) sustainability of platform ecosystems; 
  • New sustainable strategies and business models in the platform ecosystems era;
  • Organizational and managerial challenges for platform ecosystems sustainability;
  • Sustainable innovation in platform ecosystems;
  • Platforms and climate change;
  • Viability and sustainability of platform ecosystems;
  • Systems approaches to sustainability in the platform era;
  • Platform ecosystems configuration for sustainability;
  • SDGs, sustainability, and platform ecosystems;
  • Sustainability performance indicators and methods for platform ecosystems;
  • Emergent platforms for social businesses and social innovations

Interdisciplinary works as well as industry–academia joint research efforts are welcome.

This Special Issue offers the opportunity to publish on a current and relevant topic, promoting wide diffusion, recognition, and visibility of the presented papers. Moreover, there are many other benefits, such as support from the editors, feedback and tips to improve a paper, peer endorsement of the published works, and membership within a group of contributors with outstanding networking opportunities.

Dr. Luca Carrubbo
Dr. Xhimi Hysa
Dr. Francesca Iandolo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • platform ecosystems
  • sustainability
  • climate change
  • systems approaches
  • social business
  • social innovation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 934 KiB  
Article
Insights of Digital Transformation Processes in Industrial Symbiosis from the Viable Systems Approach (vSa)
by Sergio Barile, Clara Bassano, Raffaele D’Amore, Paolo Piciocchi, Marialuisa Saviano and Pietro Vito
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9696; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179696 - 29 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2241
Abstract
The main purpose of this contribution is twofold: from a scientific point of view, to interpret the symbiotic logic through the framework of the Viable Systems approach (vSa), and from a managerial viewpoint, to provide the actors of industrial symbiosis initiatives, [...] Read more.
The main purpose of this contribution is twofold: from a scientific point of view, to interpret the symbiotic logic through the framework of the Viable Systems approach (vSa), and from a managerial viewpoint, to provide the actors of industrial symbiosis initiatives, at any stage of their life cycle, with a guide to the most promising web-based solutions in terms of defining the best configuration for the symbiotic network. The article, therefore, aims to provide an in-depth study of the existing literature, which is still not exhaustive, and to consider synoptically and comparatively the modern platforms capable of supporting industrial symbiosis initiatives. The objective was pursued by examining 10 existing and functioning Web-based platforms, of which only a few were previously explored in the previous literature, while the recognition of the latter was carried out on a bibliometric basis to articulate in more detail the existing gap based on a panel of contributions as large as possible. The joint consideration of the literature review and the examination of the existing and functioning platforms shows an articulated framework of approaches, proposed models, and classification schemes of their functions, which allows us to conclude that given the sectoral, territorial, and specific characteristics of the materials addressed by each platform and considering the different cycles existing in eco-industrial parks (water, energy, by-products, etc.), the most promising way for their implementation is to consider multiple platforms to fully exploit the contribution of each of them. As for the management implications, the suggestion is to integrate the results obtained from the different platforms and to evaluate the configurational alternatives with multi-criteria procedures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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11 pages, 1429 KiB  
Article
New Governance Path through Digital Platforms and the Old Urban Planning Process in Italy
by Cinzia Bellone, Fabio Naselli and Fabio Andreassi
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6911; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126911 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Current acceleration in digital practices, unexpected challenges in our social and spatial interactions, and sudden limitations in our physical spaces, mark unpredictable changes in our old normal. A different normal—as generated nowadays from the global pandemic 2020—is setting out, indeed, a mixed physical/virtual [...] Read more.
Current acceleration in digital practices, unexpected challenges in our social and spatial interactions, and sudden limitations in our physical spaces, mark unpredictable changes in our old normal. A different normal—as generated nowadays from the global pandemic 2020—is setting out, indeed, a mixed physical/virtual framework of the modification humanity is undertaking in being pushed into a new “digital age”; or better, as many scholars are saying, into the New Normal. A new normal in which the balance between physical and virtual interactions became in vantage of the second one in just one year, by increasing, at the same time, both the quantity and the quality of exchanging digital data. It is drafted a bi-dimensional enlarging that re-calls and stresses moreover the value of certain qualitative multi-data-based analyses aimed in reading the people’s common-sense to extrapolate wishes and needs within their daily lives; as the sentiment analysis applied to the urban planning processes wants to do. In synthesis, the bigger number of qualitative data coming from the web (from Socials mainly) became more affordable and more reliable (due to the new larger number of digital flows) in shaping new ways for a more effective public participation within the conventional planning process. In the pages of this article authors, through different but shared viewpoints, propose a possible answer to the topic of a new “Governance 3.0” addressing the attempt of a change of those consolidated paradigms within which the spatial dimension—in which we live and we act day by day—is shaped through planning processes consolidate over the years. Analyzing the relationship between Technocracy and Democracy, as defined by Khanna, it is argued that it is possible to realize new forecasts and to acquire a more democratic and participatory (inclusive) dimension of Governance, thanks to new digital technologies by exploring the general unconscious “feeling” of people, through anonymous data collection from Socials and similar platforms and without any direct or indirect interference with it. The Sentiment Analysis can “define automatic tools able to extract subjective information from texts in natural languages, such as opinions and sentiments, in order to create structured and actionable knowledge to be used by either a decision-support system or a decision-maker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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14 pages, 655 KiB  
Article
Digital Platform Ecosystems as Living Labs for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation: A Conceptual Model Proposal
by Grzegorz Baran and Aleksandra Berkowicz
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6494; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13116494 - 07 Jun 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4172
Abstract
The main idea of the paper is to combine modern research methods (as living labs that enable research in a real-life setting) with the new technological opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation development (as digital platforms) to search for innovative solutions, while addressing the [...] Read more.
The main idea of the paper is to combine modern research methods (as living labs that enable research in a real-life setting) with the new technological opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation development (as digital platforms) to search for innovative solutions, while addressing the sustainable development problems. Thus, the paper aims to explain how real value for society is created within digital platform ecosystems and how they employ to this end novel solutions that better address existing social problems. Consequently, it proposes a conceptual framework to research and develop sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation with the use of digital platforms. This research study takes a synthesizing conceptual approach that seeks to integrate the existing knowledge drawn on two major streams of research: living labs as a methodology and digital platform ecosystems to enrich the theory of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation development. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a novel conceptual model of digital platform ecosystems as living labs for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. The model depicts digital platform ecosystems examined as living labs and the implicit processes that include platform users in problem-solving and value-creation in real-life settings. The novelty of the model stems from framing these processes that capture the relationship between individuals and opportunities as the foundations of entrepreneurship and the relationship between the problem space and the solution space, where the opportunities occur. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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21 pages, 2427 KiB  
Article
Predictive Maintenance as a Driver for Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from a Public-Private Co-Financed R&D Project
by Francesco Polese, Carmen Gallucci, Luca Carrubbo and Rosalia Santulli
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5884; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115884 - 24 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2794
Abstract
Can public–private research favor sustainable economic growth? Can innovation in terms of predictive maintenance (a recently consolidated evolution compared to the more traditional final and preventive maintenance) favor sustainable business balance? Drawing on the Quadruple Helix model and adopting the users’ (fourth helix) [...] Read more.
Can public–private research favor sustainable economic growth? Can innovation in terms of predictive maintenance (a recently consolidated evolution compared to the more traditional final and preventive maintenance) favor sustainable business balance? Drawing on the Quadruple Helix model and adopting the users’ (fourth helix) perspective, this paper seeks to provide initial answers to these two questions. Following an exploratory approach, it applies case study methodology to present the research outcomes of the D.I.A.S.E.I. Project, a co-financed research and development (R&D) project. Using a mixed-methods approach, narrative and quantitative, the study highlights that investing in predictive maintenance allows companies to reach better profitability ratios and sustainable value indexes. This is possible because of the improved quality of the provided services, higher revenues and the reduction of extraordinary maintenance costs. Furthermore, if companies support investment in predictive maintenance through correct financial decisions, they may create value over time and favor sustainable business balance. The work is the first empirical investigation, which should encourage further explorations. There are numerous implications, including reference to the co-creation of value, the effects on decision support systems and sustainable competitive advantage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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19 pages, 1423 KiB  
Article
Addressing Tensions and Paradoxes in Sustainable Wine Industry: The Case of the Association “Le Donne Del Vino”
by Alessia Anzivino, Marta Galli and Roberta Sebastiani
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4157; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084157 - 08 Apr 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2260
Abstract
Practising sustainable business in the wine industry requires addressing social, economic and environmental goals. This paper focuses on the process of addressing tensions and paradoxes amongst these goals at the different levels of the service ecosystem in the Italian sustainable wine industry and [...] Read more.
Practising sustainable business in the wine industry requires addressing social, economic and environmental goals. This paper focuses on the process of addressing tensions and paradoxes amongst these goals at the different levels of the service ecosystem in the Italian sustainable wine industry and on the platformisation role at the meso level. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on 23 in-depth interviews with associates of Le Donne del Vino. The collected data were triangulated with those derived from participatory observations and the analysis of secondary data. The study’s findings reveal that the presence of an organisation at the meso level activates the harmonisation of value co-creation within the service ecosystem. This is achieved by intervening in the four different paradoxes, namely, belonging, learning, organising and performing, which emerge from the adoption of a sustainable approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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18 pages, 757 KiB  
Article
Platforms Enhancing the Engagement of the Private Sector in Humanitarian Relief Operations
by Alessandra Cozzolino
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3024; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063024 - 10 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2546
Abstract
As disasters become progressively more frequent and complex, better collaboration through partnerships with private business becomes more important. This research aimed to understand how platforms support the engagement of the private sector—especially logistics businesses—in humanitarian relief operations. The study was based on a [...] Read more.
As disasters become progressively more frequent and complex, better collaboration through partnerships with private business becomes more important. This research aimed to understand how platforms support the engagement of the private sector—especially logistics businesses—in humanitarian relief operations. The study was based on a literature review and on an investigation of an emblematic case of the cross-sector platform, recognized at a global level in logistics and supply chain management, between the United Nations World Food Programme and the Logistics Emergency Teams (WFP/LET), composed of four global leading logistics providers. The insights resulting from this paper may be of particular interest to both academics and professionals regarding the two sectors, profit and non-profit. This is because the implementation of the platform reflects the concrete benefit for people in need reached by the humanitarian relief operations. It may also constitute a useful tool for building an agile supply chain capable of being resilient in responding to sudden and unexpected changes in the context, both in humanitarian and commercial supply chains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Platform Ecosystems Era. New Approaches to an Ancient Problem)
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