Customer behavior and adoption · Large-scale observational empirical analysis of Apple's app-promotion decisions; the article tests predictions using app-level data and robustness/alternative specifications.
Growing platforms within platforms: How platforms manage the adoption of complementor products in the presence of network effects?
Shiva Agarwal, Cameron D. Miller, Martin Ganco (2023). Growing platforms within platforms: How platforms manage the adoption of complementor products in the presence of network effects?. Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3487.
Plain-English take
Apps with direct network effects are more likely to receive an award. The likelihood rises with developer market share but falls in concentrated segments; in concentrated segments, challenger developers are more likely than leaders to receive the award. For your marketing: Use it as a product, platform or behavior mechanism reference rather than a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
How much weight to give this
3/5 Moderate evidence for a specific setting
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Large-scale observational empirical analysis of Apple's app-promotion decisions; the article tests predictions using app-level data and robustness/alternative specifications.
Apple iOS App Store game apps released during 60 months from 2012–2016; the resulting complete-data sample is 211,407 games across 20 categories. The outcome is receipt of Apple's Editors' Choice award; multiplayer games proxy direct network effects, with developer market share and segment concentration as contingencies.
Based on the publisher-described design and comparison; see the article for complete analysis.
Publisher record was fetched directly; full text was not assumed open.
Double-blind? Blinding was not established from the retrieved publisher record.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How does a platform owner manage adoption of complementor products that have direct network effects, balancing user-growth benefits against the risk of complementor dominance?
Design
Large-scale observational empirical analysis of Apple's app-promotion decisions; the article tests predictions using app-level data and robustness/alternative specifications.
Sample and setting
Apple iOS App Store game apps released during 60 months from 2012–2016; the resulting complete-data sample is 211,407 games across 20 categories. The outcome is receipt of Apple's Editors' Choice award; multiplayer games proxy direct network effects, with developer market share and segment concentration as contingencies.
Reported result
What the study found
Apps with direct network effects are more likely to receive an award. The likelihood rises with developer market share but falls in concentrated segments; in concentrated segments, challenger developers are more likely than leaders to receive the award.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
The publisher page does not state a limitations section; this is therefore not stated by the publisher page fetched in this run.
Possible founder application
Use it as a product, platform or behavior mechanism reference rather than a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract/metadata retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.
The publisher abstract says the authors test predictions using Apple's promotion of apps and find that network-effects apps are more likely to receive an award, with the effect depending on developer market share and segment concentration. The methods page identifies 211,407 games across 20 categories (2012–2016). Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; profile summarizes the accessible record and does not claim independent review of inaccessible full text.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.