Generativity and the paradox of stability and flexibility in a platform architecture: A case of the Oracle Cloud Platform

Generativity is a technology’s capability of producing new outputs without input from the originator. Platforms are important technologies that embrace generativity. While the literature generally assumes that generativity arises from platform governance and high-level platform design, we propose that generativity also arises from a platform’s three architectural components: the base, the interface, and the add-ons. Drawing on a case study of the Oracle Cloud Platform, we reveal how generativity emerges through the paradox of stability and flexibility in a platform’s architectural components. Further, standardization navigates this paradox by coordinating the dependencies between stability and flexibility across heterogeneous stakeholders.