Platform design and governance in industrial markets: Charting the meta-organizational logic

Industrial business-to-business (B2B) platforms are meta-organizations (i.e., organizations of organizations) that typically integrate digital assets with physical products such as machinery or equipment, often operating in specialized contexts with a limited network of complementors and end users. These characteristics distinguish B2B platforms from their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts, as they are defined by distinctive design features and governance drivers. Yet, the current platform literature predominantly focuses on B2C markets, leaving a critical gap in understanding the design and governance of B2B platforms in industrial contexts. We address this gap by adopting a meta-organizational perspective on B2B platforms in industrial markets to examine how the distinct design features of B2B platforms shape their meta-organizational governance. First, we uncover distinctive design features of B2B platforms across three dimensions: platform market, platform architecture, and cyber-physical integration. Building on these features and evidence from the emerging literature, we classify B2B platforms into five dominant archetypes: matchmaker, application marketplace, solution enabler, consortium, and decentralized autonomous platforms. Second, we theorize that the governance of these archetypes is shaped by their design features and revolves around two main dimensions: control rights (i.e., enforcement authority) and decision rights (i.e., autonomy over platform assets). These dimensions underpin distinct governance models, which we label unified, collaborative, regulated, and algorithmic governance. We consolidate these insights into an organizing framework of B2B platform governance and contribute to the literature in four ways: (1) providing a nuanced understanding of B2B platform design and governance, (2) identifying distinct archetypes and developing a framework for B2B platform governance, (3) explaining how B2B platform design features influence governance models, and (4) setting a research agenda to strengthen the design and governance of B2B platforms. By broadening our understanding of platforms as meta-organizations, we advance knowledge of how B2B platforms create and capture value in industrial markets. • We examine the distinct design features of B2B platform governance. • We identify five B2B platform archetypes based on their distinct design features. • B2B meta-organizational governance encompasses unique control and decision rights. • We identify unified, collaborative, regulated, algorithmic governance models. • Each governance model is characterized by different control and decision rights.