Architecture and management mechanisms of ecosystem niche digital platforms

The subject of the research is architectural solutions (technological and design) and a complex of management mechanisms (economic, social, institutional) of niche digital platform ecosystems (NDPEs). The object of the research is the ecosystems of NDPEs themselves, functioning in various sectors of the economy. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic such as the contextual conditioning of platform architecture, the evolution of management approaches from technical control to strategic environmental formation, and the relationship between the success of an ecosystem and external regional and sectoral factors. Special attention is paid to the fundamental specifics of NDPEs, which are focused not on a global scale but on deep digitalization of narrow industry segments or local markets, requiring the abandonment of universal templates. The aim of the work is to develop a conceptual model explaining how the features of architecture and the choice of management practices determine the resilience and growth of such ecosystems within a specific institutional and market environment, identifying key patterns in their design. The research is based on a mixed-methods methodology. In the first, theoretical stage, a literature analysis was conducted, and a three-level model was developed. In the second, qualitative stage, a comparative case study was applied to analyze architecture and management. The main conclusions of this research are, firstly, the identification of key distinguishing elements of NDPE architecture: a flexible core enriched with specialized industry modules, a strategy of limited open interfaces focused on the security of critical data, and the central role of structured industry data as a primary asset. Secondly, the development and empirical justification of a three-level classification of management mechanisms, including technical management of the core, socio-economic management of interactions within the ecosystem, and strategic management of relationships with the external institutional environment. A significant contribution of the author to the research topic is the identification and proof of the thesis that the effectiveness of the NDPE ecosystem is contextual and directly depends on the precise adaptation of its architecture and management model to the specifics of the local business environment. The key factor of resilience is recognized as the platform's ability to purposefully reduce high transaction costs in weakly formalized industrial or local environments. The novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive consideration of NDPEs as context-dependent hybrid institutions, which allowed for the formulation of practical recommendations.