Growing Businesses in the Age of Platforms

March 05, 2018

Read The Full Prompt

One consequence of the digital transformation is that platforms are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s economy.

Assignment

For this module please pick ONE company/organization and discuss how it creates and captures value in platform markets:

Issues you may want to address (feel free to consider other related issues not listed below):

  • How to scale up platform businesses?
  • How do various factors such as local/global network effects and multi-homing affect competitive dynamics in platform markets?
  • When can an entrant take over market leadership when competing with an incumbent in a platform market?
  • How can product/service-centric firms grow into platform-centric firms?
  • How do firms cooperate and compete with powerful platforms when they serve as complementors and partners of these platforms?

Create an approximately 500-750 word post to make your contribution on d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit by 6pm on March 5. Please create appropriate tags for your post. Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Note: Since our third module is on crowd-based business models (business models that leverage collective intelligence from a large number of users), please do not pick crowd-based companies such as Kickstarter and Threadless for this OK blog post.

Submitted (81)

Who’s Eating OpenTable’s Lunch?
Cyou
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 12:32 am
Providing restaurants with an integrated electronic booking and table management system is no longer enough. In order for OpenTable to maintain its market leader position, the Company needs to increase its value proposition for both its online users and restaurant [...]
GROW(ing) a platform to improve job placement in Japan (and then the world?)
JPW
Last modified on March 2, 2018 at 8:54 pm
GROW has quickly grown its platform to match recruiters and job applicants using sophisticated AI tools in Japan. A no-fee-to-applicants model has allowed for quick expansion and increased the quality of the platform (by providing vast amounts of training data [...]
MoviePass: A Platform for Burning Cash
PH
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 10:59 pm
MoviePass skyrocketed to over 2 million users with a revolutionary $7.95 subscription price for seeing movies. But without a clear path to profit on even a single transaction, is it a platform for anything more than burning cash?
houzz
A.J. Steinlage
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 2:35 pm
You can thank this platform when you own your first home.
Roku: The little player dominating Apple and Amazon
Rachel
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Can you think of a market in which Apple and Amazon compete but aren’t the market leaders? There’s actually one industry where that’s the case. It turns out that when it comes to TV streaming platforms, it’s Roku that’s the [...]
Grubhub: Delivering a Valuable Platform
HBS123
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 5:42 pm
Grubhub is attempting to increase network effects and increase barriers to multi-homing for customers on both sides of their platform
Remind: creating and monetizing an edtech platform
m_watson
Posted on March 3, 2018 at 12:21 pm
Remind provided a free communications platform for teachers and parents that amassed scale of 35M teachers. But, they've struggled with figuring out how to monetize - and have large tech companies entering as competition in the edtech space.
Meet Thumbtack: Your Local Handyperson Reimagined
HU
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 2:26 pm
From guitar lessons to bed bug extermination to dunk tank rentals, Thumbtack offers services from over 250,000 providers to millions of customers via its online marketplace platform.
Tile: Dude, where are my keys?
HC
Last modified on March 6, 2018 at 11:53 pm
Tile is creating the Internet of Things for those things that we often lose, namely our wallets and our keys.  The company has created Bluetooth trackers which pair with a mobile application.  While the original trackers were intended for keys, [...]
Amazon Handmade: Not All Networks Can Be Stitched Together
DF
Posted on March 1, 2018 at 3:44 pm
In late 2015, experts declared Etsy dead as Amazon launched Handmade, it’s peer-to-peer marketplace for handmade products. And yet with all the factors in place to favor explosive growth, Handmade’s performance has been underwhelming at best. Where did Amazon miss [...]
Is #FakeNews disrupting Social Media platforms?
Jean Grey
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 4:01 am
Do you believe in what you read in Facebook and Twitter? As new challenges emerge for current leader platforms in social media – challenges such as Fake News – opportunities open for incumbents to compete, for platforms to cooperate, and [...]
Etsy – Can You Scale Heart?
M
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 10:38 am
Can Etsy maintain its identity as a handcrafted artisan platform with the presence of large manufacturers and sellers?
Apple’s App Store Strategy: Quality over Quantity
Laura Barnes
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Apple's high quality app marketplace effectively creates and captures value for themselves, developers, and users alike.
Can Strava grow beyond just “outdoor sport enthusiasts?”
kt
Posted on March 4, 2018 at 11:35 pm
Since it’s founding in 2009, Strava has attempted to brand itself as the “social network for athletes.” While the app has grown to be one of the go-to apps for serious runner, cyclists, and other outdoor athletes, can Strava make [...]
Netzun: a start-up competing in the job search market
D
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 5:50 pm
The digital transformation have changed the way professionals and companies network and connect to find jobs. In this industry, LinkedIn has emerged as a winner, with more than 546 million users in more than 200 countries [1]. In Peru, despite [...]
Alcohol Delivery? Yes, Please.
Mike M
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 4:34 pm
What's so special about this Boston-based alcohol delivery company?
Instagram – The Unstoppable Value-Creation Machine
MAB
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 6:04 pm
Instagram has emerged as #Value-Creation #Value-Capture #Product-Platform #Social-Media
Australia Zoo: A platform in the age before platforms
B4AD56
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 1:48 pm
In a world before Facebook, Uber, or Amazon, Australia Zoo created an unlikely platform of digital media, guest experience, and celebrity to become a global powerhouse.
How Did We Decide Where to Eat before Yelp?
MHS
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Yelp connects users, local businesses, and developers through an online platform to provide what the Yellow Pages used to: a comprehensive directory of businesses. Yelp has grown through encouraging community generated reviews, and developing value added services on top of [...]
Peloton: the digital platform revolutionizing the future of fintness
A
Posted on March 5, 2018 at 5:48 pm
A darling of the NY Tech scene, Peloton recently ascended to unicorn status, attracting the attention of well-capitalized competitors. What should Peloton do to defend its platform strategy and growth trajectory?
Convoy: the Uber for Trucking?
Austin
Last modified on March 4, 2018 at 6:59 pm
Can Convoy beat legacy brokers...and Uber...to become the Uber of Trucking?
ofo: is bike-sharing really part of the sharing economy?
Gloria
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 4:37 pm
Ofo was founded in 2014 and is the first station-free bike sharing platform in the world. It is operated through a smartphone application, connecting users and bike manufacturers. Since founding, Ofo has grown exponentially both in terms of its customer [...]
Toutiao, an AI-powered News Platform
Ting
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 12:21 am
Jinri Toutiao (means today’s headlines), a tech unicorn in China, is a news and information content platform powered by Artificial Intelligence. The company is China’s largest mobile platform of content creation, aggregation and distribution, with 120 million daily active users [...]
Stack Overflow: Quality through Community Control
jessica
Last modified on March 5, 2018 at 8:23 pm
Stack Overflow has created a community with very high-quality standards by ceding control to community members with strong reputations
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