Institutional approach to platform governance: Google’s control over Samsung in app store ecosystem

This study explores platform power and governance by examining Samsung Electronics’ failed attempts to establish an app store to counter Google’s dominance over the Android operating system. Taking an institutional perspective, we analyze the interactions between Samsung and Google as organisations striving for resource access and legitimacy. Based on in-depth interviews with former Samsung employees and archival research based on industry data, this research illustrates how Google exercises authority over other actors in the global smartphone industry, and how the prevailing duopoly and multi-sided market infrastructure shape the governance of the app store ecosystem. This study demonstrates that the owner of a top-level platform, by leveraging architectural advantages to establish entry barriers and make its own services more attractive and competitive, can exert tight control over sub-platforms or profitable services outside the core platform domain, potentially abusing its authority as a platform provider. By offering a detailed empirical account of a specific case of digital platform competition in South Korea, we argue that this research contributes not only to the academic literature on platform studies but also offers practical implications for policymakers and industry practitioners, particularly in contexts where understanding the broader digital platform ecosystem is urgently required.