Politicized Framing of the Future: Encouraging Innovation in Mature Ecosystems in the Face of Asymmetric De Alio Entrants

Abstract

Hubs and participants of mature ecosystems increasingly compete with de alio entrants that are hubs of more innovative ecosystems. Prior research shows how these asymmetric de alio entrants frame to win over participants from mature ecosystems and suggests that hubs of these ecosystems should respond by encouraging innovation among participants. However, extant theory does not explain how hubs frame to achieve this goal. We address this issue by studying a European carmaker who faced Google as an asymmetric de alio entrant. We find that the carmaker encouraged innovation by framing the future. Interestingly, it did so not through business narratives (as entrants do), but through narratives from technology policy discourses – it thus engaged in a politicized framing of the future. We identified two variants of this framing mechanism. First, the carmaker engaged in visionary politicized framing of the future, thereby encouraging innovation in enabling technologies. Second, it pursued idealistic politicized framing of the future, which promoted innovation in modular technologies. We develop a framework that explains when, how, and why hubs of mature ecosystems frame to encourage innovation in the face of asymmetric de alio entrants. Our study contributes to scholarship on incumbent framing in ecosystems, temporal framing, and inter-ecosystem competition.