“Caught in a strange loop”: A relational view on joint value capture in collaborative platforms

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Many organizations struggle to reap the benefits of working collaboratively to create innovation. This paper explores the challenges and tensions related to shifting towards joint value capture as opposed to value creation in collaborative platforms. It is based on collaborative research studies of three collaborative platforms within a Swedish automotive ecosystem. We utilize the notion of “strange loops” to analyze our findings, and identify four relational indicators that can explicate the paradoxical situation where the collaborators are willing but unable to shift towards joint value capture. The paper contributes to literature on collaborative innovation by adopting a relational perspective in the analysis, thereby clarifying how value and meaning emerging from speech acts can have significant influence on the value capture process in a collaboration.