Investigating Proprietary Software Ecosystem Governance and Health: An Updated and Refined Perspective

Although the approaches conceptualizing software ecosystems (SECO) have gained more relevance since 2010, there are not many studies addressing proprietary SECO. In a proprietary SECO, organizations are concerned with keeping their assets protected by intellectual property so that they are not exposed publicly, preventing this information from being used by competitors. Understanding how the governance mechanisms work and how organizations handle incidents on their platforms is a real challenge in this scenario. In this work, we aim at: i) providing an update on SECO governance mechanisms and SECO health metrics; ii) analyzing SECO classifications and evaluating the evolution of proprietary SECO; and iii) exploring the organization’s strategies in this context and investigating the SECO incident management process. To do so, a longitudinal literature study was performed on SECO, extending an existing study that covered 2006 to 2015. As such, we analyzed 422 studies from 2016 to 2020 and provided an updated perspective based on seven research questions, as well as a refined perspective on proprietary SECO and a deep understanding on the incident management process in this scenario. Results reveal that governance strategies aim to share knowledge, provide continuous innovation and increase competitive advantage in the market.