Fintech platform failure rates are disproportionately high, with an estimated 90% failure rate over many years. There is a lack of public information on effective strategies for fintech platforms to survive and succeed. Conventional strategy recommendations may also be less applicable in the fintech context. The authors conducted a literature review of 293 papers on fintech strategies and identified gaps. They developed a theoretical lens based on six strategic logics and evaluated current literature through this lens. Their findings provide a more nuanced understanding of strategic options for fintech platforms to balance differentiation from rivals with meeting stakeholder expectations in changing environments.

1. Fintech Platforms' Strategic Possibilities
The failure rate of
fi
ntech platforms is disproportionately high, which
might be attributed to a dearth of public information on the best
tactics to use.
There are also signi
fi
cant constraints related to the current work.
To overcome these restrictions, the researchers discovered
distinctive traits and their strategic consequences.
Following that, we modi
fi
ed a framework composed of six traditional
fundamental logics of strategy and compared their prescriptions
with the unique qualities we found.
Fintech is an umbrella term encompassing the creation and delivery
of
fi
nancial goods and services using information technology.
According to industry estimates, the global
fi
ntech market will
develop at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 20% to reach
around US $305 billion by 2025.
Because technology improves the openness and timeliness of
fi
nancial information,
fi
ntech may lead to the creation and
exploitation of new business possibilities.
Digital technology has been used in ways that have "driven fresh
entrepreneurship, unfettered creativity, and a major rise in interest
by venture capital companies" in recent years.
This has resulted in the birth of hundreds of new
fi
rms throughout
the world, many of which provide revolutionary platform-based
services.
The failure rate of these new
fi
ntech platforms is expected to be
exceedingly high (Muthukannan et al., 2020), with estimations of
approximately 90% over many years.

2. The
fi
ntech market is not only hypercompetitive, but it is also
saturated, implying that platforms will require an even more
effective competitive strategy to secure their existence and navigate
the unfavourable contextual circumstances surrounding their
businesses (Chanias et al., 2019).
First, there may be a shortage of public information about the
tactics that might secure their businesses' survival and success.
Second, typical approach recommendations are less applicable or
successful in functional situations.
To acquire an overview of the strategic possibilities accessible to a
fi
ntech platform, we will build a theoretical lens based on an existing
typology of strategies.
The researchers analysed, if there are limits in previous studies'
results and prescriptions when seen through our theoretical lens,
and the researchers provided a research plan to overcome them.
The researchers evaluation excluded books, dissertations, case
studies, and book reviews.
The researchers looked through the websites of the AIS Senior
Scholars' Basket of Eight (Bo8) journals.
Their literature search was conducted over a two-month period in
May and June 2021.
They also narrowed our search parameters to include articles on
our topic of interest.
For this work, they did a literature search of 293 peer-reviewed
publications published in the Bo8 and other IS journals.
The Bo8 publications were chosen since they are the major IS
journals and are often referenced.
They searched four important databases:

3. Edit Image
Literature review stages and activities
ABI/INFORM, the ACM Digital Library, the AIS Electronic Library,
and Scopus–Elsevier.
Backward and forward searches were carried out using a manual
assessment of the references of the sampled articles.
These were carried out by utilising the Google Scholar search
engine's "Cited by" option.
The dataset analysis and synthesis process starts with a thorough
reading of each sampled article.
Articles in which
fi
ntech was not the primary phenomenon
investigated were excluded from our sample.
A narrative technique (A. Langley, 1999) was subsequently used, in
which a member of our research team created textual summaries of
each article.
The selected papers were then categorised by af
fi
nity into a variety
of research categories based on their summaries (see similar
approach in Lagna & Ravishankar, 2022).
They started by categorising existing publications in the
fi
nance
literature to help us identify conceptual links and disconnections.

4. The papers were then critically evaluated to uncover 'explicit or
hidden con
fl
icts and lacking explanations, and so identify or build
white patches or gaps' (Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2014, p. 267).
The procedure was repeated to compare previously categorised
articles to newly generated or changed themes.
The rising body of work on
fi
ntech may be generally categorised
into four primary areas based on our analysis of the literature.
The
fi
rst subject is Fintech Drivers, and studies in this
fi
eld often
strive to uncover the variables that promote the overall growth of
the
fi
ntech movement.
The second subject, which is covered by the bulk of extant research
(see Gomber et al., 2018b), is Fintech Operations.
This
fi
eld of study seeks to give insight on how
fi
rms should be
formed and how innovations occur (e.g., D'Acunto & McGroarty,
2017; Muthukannan & Co, 2020).
A deeper look at the articles associated with this subject reveals
that many of them are descriptive and rely primarily on anecdotal
evidence.
For example, Dhar and Stein (2017), for example, made a
persuasive case for integrating technology and business processes
while keeping open access in order to create a "full"
fi
ntech
platform.
The study of Chanias et al. (2019) is an exception, since they
theorised on the process through which a digital transformation plan
might be formed and constantly changed.
Fintech platforms may struggle to manage the global
fi
ntech
landscape's competitive dynamics and poor market circumstances
(Chanias et al., 2019).
The Fintech strategy literature has not effectively addressed why
these tactics are acceptable and bene
fi
cial for the survival and
development of their operations.
They shifted their focus to what the current literature has to say
about the distinctive properties of
fi
nTech platforms and the
consequences of those traits for strategy creation and
implementation.
A
fi
ntech platform is a hybrid organisation that must balance the
competing needs of its dual nature.

5. Unlike many other technology companies, they must combine
expansion with care in order to keep the risks connected with the
supply of
fi
nancial goods and services at an acceptable level.
Customers are more likely to be drawn from the disadvantaged
elements of society that incumbent
fi
nancial institutions have
historically ignored, particularly in developing nations.
Platforms are exposed to increased public scrutiny as a
consequence of worries about exploitation.
Sambamurthy et al. (2003) created the six basic strategic logics,
which include the logics of optimality and social congruence.
They differ fundamentally from the idea of institutional logic (see
Reay & Hinings, 2009; Thornton & Ocasio, 2008).
A strategic logic is de
fi
ned as "a collection of stated principles that
determine strategic objectives, frameworks, skills, and success
expectations" (Lengnick-Hall & Wolff, 1999, p. 1109).
These logics may not account for all feasible methods, but they
would re
fl
ect the more traditional possibilities available to
fi
ntech
platforms.
There are two approaches to competitive strategy logic, both of
which emphasise the establishment and maintenance of a fresh
value proposition.
The Logic of Positioning is based on Michael Porter's (1980, 1996)
fundamental corporate strategy conceptualization.
The second is the Logic of Leverage, which contends that higher
performance results from leveraging
fi
rm-speci
fi
c strategic
resources and competencies.
Previous research in the digital platforms literature has shown how
business-speci
fi
c resources and competencies, such as an
established parent
fi
rm and extensive market expertise, may give
competitive advantages.
The fourth rationale is the Logic of Complexity, which is based on
Chaos theory and proposes that greater performance is the
consequence of keeping the business network healthy.
Because of the networked structure of digital platforms, strategy
prescriptions linked with the logic of complexity are notably common
in the literature.

6. To successfully manage a network of entities and steer them toward
a common objective, governance rules and procedures that
represent platform-wide principles are required.
A platform sponsor's strategy should be oriented around carefully
subsidising and supporting complementors that are not just 'best in
class' but can add diverse types of value.
The
fi
fth logic is optimality logic, which is based on Hannan and
Freeman's Organizational Ecology.
This implies that companies are vulnerable to natural selection
pressures.
This logic's strategy focuses on achieving and maintaining an ideal
organisational shape. The thesis here is that if a platform lacks
certain characteristics, it should work to obtain them.
The sixth logic, derived from institutional theory, is the Logic of
Social Congruence (see Tolbert & Zucker, 1999).
This logic emphasises the signi
fi
cance of "social
fi
tness," which is a
certain organisational condition in which a business is consistent
with the external constraints operating on it.
They shifted their focus to evaluating the current
fi
ntech literature's
results and prescriptions via this lens.
In the next part, they looked at the results and recommendations of
current
fi
ntech research as well as provide instances that match
each of the fundamental logics of strategy.
This gave a more thorough treatment of what is already known, as
well as account for pockets of insights distributed throughout the
existing literature in a holistic and integrated way.
Kazan et al. (2018, p. 212) outline a "transformation strategy" that
may separate a
fi
ntech business from its rivals "via innovative and
cost-effective arrangements."
Fintech platforms are value models that may be adjusted over a
wide range of parameters to give a unique value proposition while
accounting for contextual effects (Gimpel et al., 2018).
These models are consistent with the logic of positioning since they
re
fl
ect many approaches to creating value.
However, including consideration of the speci
fi
c characteristics of
fi
ntech platforms may increase the complexity and applicability of
the results and prescriptions linked with this reasoning.

7. The dynamic and unpredictable regulatory landscape, for example,
shows that the environmental possibilities and dangers that they
face are continuously altering.
Future research paths that are consistent with the logic of leverage
Ant Financial used its parent company's vast user base and
considerable technology resources to create Yu'e Bao, a wealth
management platform that developed to become one of China's
biggest and most extensively used.
This implies that
fi
ntech platforms may have access to resources
and capabilities that their rivals do not have and cannot mimic.
When the particular qualities of
fi
ntech platforms are taken into
consideration, the logic of leverage might become more
sophisticated.
What does it mean, for example, for a platform to be predominantly
a tech business (e.g., T. Tan et al., 2020) or more of a
fi
nance
fi
rm?
And what if the platform is a startup competing against more
resource-rich established
fi
rms?
Addressing these issues would offer a more complete picture of the
resources and capabilities that should be prioritised and used.
Because of the particular qualities of
fi
ntech platforms, maintaining
a succession of transient competitive advantages may be very
dif
fi
cult.
For the Logic of Opportunity, investigations into the mechanics of
fi
nterech innovation offer an example of results and
recommendations associated with this logic among our selected
publications.
Kazan et al. (2018) present another example of a prescription for
how a
fi
ntech platform's value production and delivery architectures
might be con
fi
gured.
Accounting for the distinct features of
fi
ntech platforms may give
insights into how the latter might be recombined or changed to
improve performance.
Future research might look at ways to manage competitive
dynamics with market incumbents or regulators (Kazan et al., 2018)
while maintaining the former's goodwill and support.
For example, if a platform is required to communicate and transact
with a broader range of organisations, how will it manage its
relationships and interactions with these entities?

8. Relationship management with both prominent and peripheral
groups will be critical to the capacity of
fi
ntech platforms to utilise
pooled resources.
Ondrus et al. argue for the signi
fi
cance of selective openness,
especially in terms of service supply, technological compatibility,
and user engagement, which would improve market potential.
Future study areas associated with the concept of optimality
include investigations focused on certain qualities or traits
deemed suitable for
fi
ntECH platforms.
The digital hybrid approach is recommended for
fi
nancial platforms
since it will establish a closed environment and decrease the need
for multi-homing (see Barua & Mukherjee, 2021).
Both of these studies from our picked publications support and
expand on Dhar and Stein's argument for combining technology,
business processes, and open access.
Future research, for example, might explicitly account for the
volatile regulatory climate (see Zetsche et al., 2017) and strive to
uncover the characteristics that would boost the likelihood of a
fi
ntech platform's survival against this dynamic background.
For the Logic of Social Congruence, studies on regtech provide an
example of discoveries and recommendations that are consistent
with this logic among our selected papers.
Regtech refers to regulators' use of technology advancements to
enhance regulation, reporting, and compliance procedures (Yang &
Li, 2018).
It has the potential to solve the ineffectiveness and inef
fi
ciencies of
existing
fi
nancial laws while still protecting the interests of
consumers.
There are some key holes that future research on
fi
ntech platforms
should seek to
fi
ll.
According to our study, there has been little focus on the
rami
fi
cations of the dual identity that they are unavoidably
presented with.
There is a need for a better understanding of how sociopolitical
legitimacy may be attained and maintained against the background
of a continually changing regulatory framework.
Conclusions

9. Fintech platform failure rates are disproportionately high
(Muthukannan et al., 2020), particularly when compared to other
types of new companies.
First, there may be a shortage of public information about the
tactics that might secure their businesses' survival and success.
Second, conventional strategy prescriptions may be less applicable
or successful in the setting of
fi
nancial technology platforms.
Our work on
fi
ntech platform strategies is one-of-a-kind.
We discovered a number of "white spots", or gaps, in the current
literature that are relevant to our main issue.
We have established a route for resolving these knowledge gaps by
proposing a comprehensive design for future research spanning a
wide variety of concerns.
The breadth of the arguments and prescriptions offered in our paper
may be deemed wider since they are applicable to pro
fi
t-oriented or
socially oriented
fi
ntech platforms in both developed and developing
environments.
Our
fi
ndings re
fl
ect the reasoning of previous research on other
digital platforms (e.g., T. C. Tan et al., 2017), implying that the
achievement of a platform's pro-social goals would inevitably follow
the achievement of
fi
nancial viability.
A
fi
ntech platform may be able to carve out a pro
fi
table niche for
itself inside the
fi
nancial services industry.
However, occupying an appealing market position may be transitory
unless it can preserve that position against powerful incumbents.
This implies that a mix of strategic logics may be necessary.
For example, complementary business partners might be used to
bridge gaps in the main platform's portfolio of resources and
competencies.
A
fi
ntech platform must strike a careful balance between seeking to
differentiate itself from rivals and meeting the expectations, rules,
and standards of its stakeholders.
Our
fi
ndings should be particularly valuable for individuals
confronting existential crises since they provide a more nuanced
picture of the strategic alternatives available.
The regulators and policymakers that supervise the
fi
nancial
industry are the second stakeholder group that our analysis might
possibly enlighten.

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30. Photo by Christiann Koepke on Unsplash
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