Platform Identity Reconstruction: Origins, Mechanisms, and Outcomes

Platformization requires firms to move from internally controlled value creation toward the orchestration of interactions among external actors. Identity-related challenges are therefore a key barrier, particularly when platform logic is introduced into an established product-based firm. This research note presents a work-in-progress pilot study on platform identity reconstruction and asks: How does platform origin shape organizational identity reconstruction during platformization? The planned longitudinal study covers nine focal firms across three groups: Big Tech firms with complex product and platform portfolios, industrial incumbents originating in linear value chains, and born-platform firms. Approximately twenty official press releases per firm will be selected around critical moments and repeated platform projects. GE Predix and Siemens MindSphere will provide initiative-level negative controls within the incumbent cluster. Researchers will manually code verbatim sentences and distinguish organizational identity from platform identity. The analysis will test whether platform identity becomes clearer across repeated incumbent projects and whether it substitutes, supplements, or coexists with prior identity claims. Initial coding has begun for Apple, Siemens, and Airbnb; the pilot will refine the comparative design before the full sample is completed.