Innovative Platforms

February 24, 2019

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies give rise to a variety of platforms. Uber matches drivers and riders. iTunes makes apps available for iPhone users.

For this assignment, please identify companies/organizations that you think have an innovative platform. Why are they innovative? Discuss the function of the platform, two or three interesting elements of the platform, and highlight the value creation of the platform. If you have room, feel free to make observations about aspects of the value capture strategy, but do not make it central.

Create an approximately 500-600 word post to make your contribution by Sunday, February 24 at 8 p.m.

Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Your comments are due Monday, February 25, at 10 a.m. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Selected posts will be discussed in class and also featured on the HBS Digital Initiative website.

Please prepare a 2-3 min summary of your blog post before Monday’s class.

Submitted (39)

Caring Bridge- Creating a Community of Caring
Hari Nair
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Caring Bridge- a purpose built platform for empathy
MercadoLibre: Latin America’s Free Market
Purple Unicorn
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Similar to Rakuten in Japan or Alibaba in China, MercadoLibre, which translates to “Free Market”, is an online commerce platform that currently operates in 18 countries in Latin America.
Lending Club: Creating the Marketplace Lending Business Model
ganeshraj
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 7:28 pm
Can Lending Club disrupt the personal lending marketplace?
Modernizing Millions of Mom-and-pop Stores in China – Alibaba’s LST platform
EL
Last modified on February 24, 2019 at 8:03 pm
While Alibaba may be best known for its B2C and C2C ecommerce platforms (Tmall and Taobao), it recently developed a massive B2B platform modernizing millions of mom and pop convenience stores in China. The Challenge Mom-and-pop stores: In China, offline [...]
TATERU: Bringing Digital Innovation to Japanese Real Estate
Juan Torres
Last modified on February 24, 2019 at 7:57 pm
TATERU uses a web-based application to allow landlords to source, acquire, and develop apartment buildings all over Japan, and to integrate IoT capabilities into their operations.
Rappi: LATAM’s newest Unicorn
Jose Munoz
Posted on February 23, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Value capture by an everything on demand platform.
Fitbit Care: Making Health a Platform
MS
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 7:57 pm
When a consumer electronics company needed to pivot, it turned into a platform healthcare company.
onX maps: A GPS app for hunters
Fidel Cashflow
Last modified on February 24, 2019 at 9:21 pm
onX is a one-sided platform for outdoor enthusiasts. It combines GPS technology with public records to provide data in an intuitive, integrated, and visually rich format.
How Slack Helps Employers Give Employees Some Slack on Workforce Communications
Gene E. Lectington
Posted on February 25, 2019 at 9:11 am
Slack is a cloud-based, workplace collaboration platform breaking traditional assumptions of how people communicate.
SugarWOD: Bringing Software to Constantly Varied, High-Intensity Functional Movements
MDB
Posted on February 23, 2019 at 8:23 pm
SugarWOD has brought personalized digital power to the CrossFit Box. This platform now allows you and your coach to better track workouts, analyze performance, and increase the sense of community. Fist Bump!
Digital health provider platforms – will Wellpepper win users?
TOM4
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 2:42 pm
  ‘Digital health’ is a trendy term that connotes a crowded marketplace of new technological tools in medical care delivery, design, and reimbursement.  Direct-to-consumer digital health involves the efforts of many ventures spanning the range of telemedicine to patient navigation [...]
Enabling the Industrial Revolution 4.0 – PTC’s ThingWorx Platform
MDB
Posted on March 4, 2019 at 9:06 pm
PTC's Internet of Things (IoT) ThingWorx Platforms, coupled with their unique suite of software products, creates an incredible amount of value for any company looking to embark upon the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
Who said Journalism is dead?
Samir
Posted on March 5, 2019 at 7:32 pm
The death of journalism It is no secret that print media is suffering. From 2000 to 2015, US newspaper print advertising revenue fell from $60 billion to $20 billion. [1] This, however, is less a reflection of high-quality written content going [...]
Houzz: “re-coupling” services that e-commerce has “decoupled”
Samir
Last modified on February 24, 2019 at 2:57 pm
Houzz's success illustrates a potential path forward for brick & mortar stores and service providers, which are feeling the heat from Amazon.
Amazon and Twitch continue their expansion while managing the interests of numerous parties and sides.
JWA
Posted on February 24, 2019 at 6:40 pm
Twitch made headlines in 2014 when Amazon paid almost $1 billion for the platform. Now, they have expanded beyond video games and are continuing to make some people millionaires while managing numerous parties that likely have some conflicts of interest.