Configuration of digital and physical infrastructure platforms: Private and public perspectives

ABSTRACT

Investments in infrastructure platforms aim to enhance supply chain performance. We build on network-based models of platform growth to characterize configurations of digital and physical supply chain infrastructure. We define cross-platform effect as the value accrued by a platform on one side of a multiplatform configuration as capability for the opposite side platform evolves. We posit that aligning cross-platform effect across digital and physical infrastructure enhances system outcomes. Our arguments are informed by evidence on private–public partnerships for developing production and distribution infrastructure in the pharmaceutical industry. We identify enablers and inhibitors for cross-platform effects within these data in terms of product and process technology readiness, path-dependent standards creation, organizational alignment, regulatory fragmentation, and the desire towards such infrastructure yielding resilient outcomes. Implications of findings, in shaping analytical and empirical research on managing supply chain infrastructure, at the levels of firms, industries, and public policies are discussed.