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    Market PlatformsRemove Market Platforms →

    New research on market platforms from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including how three successful new platform start-ups attracted their first customers, and the economies of multi-sided platforms.
    Page 1 of 23 Results →
    • 18 Jul 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    After the 'Crypto Crash,' What's Next for Digital Currencies?

    by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

    After soaring to dizzying levels, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have lost more than half of their value in recent months. Scott Duke Kominers discusses crypto's volatility, potential for regulation, and why these digital assets are likely here to stay.

    • 23 Jun 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    One More Way the Startup World Hampers Women Entrepreneurs

    by Michael Blanding

    Early feedback is essential to launching new products, but women entrepreneurs are more likely to receive input from men. Research by Rembrand Koning, Ramana Nanda, and Ruiqing Cao. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 15 Dec 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Biased Sampling of Early Users and the Direction of Startup Innovation

    by Ruiqing Cao, Rembrand Koning, and Ramana Nanda

    New ventures catering to female customers should be aware that the underrepresentation of women among early users on digital platforms can reduce the venture’s growth and chances of survival. As a result of gaining fewer early users, these ventures reduce future product development and are less likely to raise VC funding.

    • 11 Nov 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    How Hackathons Help Decide Platform Winners and Losers

    by Michael Blanding

    Hackathons are an overlooked venue for developers to learn about new technologies—and a lucrative place for tech companies to show off their platforms, says Andy Wu.

    • 02 Aug 2020
    • What Do You Think?

    Is the 'Experimentation Organization' Becoming the Competitive Gold Standard?

    by James Heskett

    SUMMING UP: Digital experimentation is gaining momentum as an everyday habit in many organizations, especially those in high tech, say James Heskett's readers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 14 Apr 2020
    • Cold Call Podcast

    'Fortnite' Was a Blockbuster for Epic Games. What’s the Encore?

    Re: Andy Wu

    Epic Games, maker of the incredibly popular "Fortnite" multiplayer game, considers whether to become a PC-games distribution platform. Andy Wu discusses his case study, “Epic Games.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 06 Mar 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing

    by Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen, and Erik Brynjolfsson

    This paper uses new data collected by a digital platform to study the role of occupational licensing laws on individual choices and market outcomes. Results suggest that more stringent licensing laws restrict competition but do not lead to improvements in customer satisfaction.

    • 05 Sep 2019
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The Value of Intermediation in the Stock Market

    by Marco Di Maggio, Mark Egan, and Francesco Franzoni

    Despite the rise of alternative trading platforms, high-touch broker trading remains prominent in institutional equity markets. The authors analyze how fees, research, quality of execution, and information can help explain how execution decisions and preferences vary across investors.

    • 22 Jul 2019
    • Book

    How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

    by Martha Lagace

    The most valuable companies in the world have one thing in common: all are leaders in the platform economy. In a new book, David Yoffie and colleagues identify key strategies and tactics for success on digital platforms. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 01 Jul 2019
    • Research & Ideas

    The Airbnb Lesson for Startups? Success Takes More Than Technology

    by Danielle Kost

    As investors speculate about the timing of an Airbnb IPO, Thales S. Teixeira discusses the analog tactics and economic conditions that helped catapult the company. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 25 Jun 2019
    • Cold Call Podcast

    In the Platform Economy, Upwork Searches for Better Matches in the Cloud

    Re: David B. Yoffie

    Welcome to the Platform Economy, where business strategists must learn a new form of competition. David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano explain choices facing Upwork, which matches jobs with job hunters in the cloud. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 17 Jun 2019
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

    by Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim, and Reo Song

    Many print media firms are switching to a business model requiring readers to pay for online content. This study of media paywall strategies in the US finds that adopting a digital paywall can lead to positive demand substitution from digital to print channels, particularly for large-sized firms and those with unique content.

    • 21 May 2019
    • Cold Call Podcast

    If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

    Re: Sunil Gupta

    Sunil Gupta explores the infiltration of Amazon into dozens of industries including web services, grocery, and movie production. What’s the big plan? Is the company spread too thin? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 26 Mar 2019
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Managed Ecosystems and Translucent Institutional Logics: Engaging Communities

    by Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle, and Michael Tushman

    Organizations increasingly rely on engagement with external communities of contributors. This paper explores transitions to a managed-ecosystem governance mode and its implications for strategy and innovation. To be successful, firms must develop the capabilities to shepherd communities, leverage without exploiting them, and share intellectual property rights.

    • 26 Jan 2019
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment

    by Jin Li, Gary P. Pisano, and Feng Zhu

    One well-known feature of marketplace platforms like Airbnb and eBay is their scalability. This paper identifies the strategic trade-off and implications for scalability when a platform provides services to existing and potential sellers that help reduce their fixed costs of running the business. Timing this investment is an important consideration for maximizing marketplace scalability.

    • 30 Oct 2018
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Business Ecosystems

    by Carliss Y. Baldwin

    Platform systems have existed in various forms for centuries. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, newly competitive technology of open platform systems based on digital technology and modular architectures changed the structure of entire industries. This paper lays the groundwork for a comprehensive theoretical investigation of open platform systems.

    • 26 Jun 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Inventory Management for Mobile Money Agents in the Developing World

    by Karthik Balasubramanian, David F. Drake, and Douglas Fearing

    Mobile money agents in the developing world face a key inventory management challenge: How much cash and e-float should be held to minimize both stockouts and excess working capital? The authors develop two inventory models and show substantial inventory cost reduction with a large dataset of East African mobile money transactions.

    • 17 Apr 2017
    • Research Event

    The Most Pressing Issues for Platform Providers in the Sharing Economy

    by Carmen Nobel

    Platform providers Rover.com, OpenBay, and Agora discussed “chicken-and-egg” and other challenges they face at a recent Digital Initiative event at Harvard Business School. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 22 Feb 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective

    by Elizabeth J. Altman and Michael L. Tushman

    Focusing on incumbent organizations transitioning to platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies, this analysis looks at institutional logic shifts associated with transitions to these strategies, and leadership considerations related to them. Leaders should consider how contrasting institutional logics co-exist and manage this duality including potential organizational identity challenges.

    • 16 Nov 2016
    • Research & Ideas

    Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

    by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding

    In the second part of a series on growing startups, Thales S. Teixeira explains how Uber, Etsy, and Airbnb climbed from one thousand customers to one million. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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