This study examined how digital platform adapted to on the international business context with the evidence from the case of a subsidiary of multinational company in the US. To examine the way of digital platform operating in host country, it is necessary to look further into the specific strategic options at every single stage of platform life cycle. The purpose of this study is to identify a distinct strategy of digital platform by taking a close look at what issues Disney Plus has faced with phase-by-phase problems and the growth history that is hardly considered successful until at this point. Platform subsidiaries are supposed to implement the piggyback strategy by maximizing the number of platform users to deal with the chicken-or-egg problem at the start-up stage. On top of that, key issue for success of platform subsidiaries is the way to take good care of monetization issues and network effects over the course of growth period. From this point of the mature stage, Disney Plus has to explore the possibility that the industry will be dominated by a winner-take-all platform ultimately and design a delicate architecture to cope with the possible lemon market problems. This study provides a framework to investigate the mixed problems and issues from start-up to maturity stage of digital platform in the international business context. This study also offers both theoretical and practical implications by pointing the strategic importance of local responsiveness as well as global integration for a digital platform business and future research.
Kim et al. (Sat,) studied this question.