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-
All HBS Web
(818)
- People (1)
- News (115)
- Research (546)
- Events (4)
- Multimedia (13)
- Faculty Publications (258)
- May 2014
- Article
Mobile Computing: The Next Platform Rivalry
By: Timothy Bresnahan and Shane Greenstein
Competition to become one of several dominant mobile platforms is intense. Platforms compete for developers, who create applications which make the platform valuable for users. Why doesn't one form of platform governance emerge as superior? This essay will stress the...
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Bresnahan, Timothy, and Shane Greenstein. "Mobile Computing: The Next Platform Rivalry." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 104, no. 5 (May 2014): 475–480.
- August 2007
- Module Note
Managing Networked Businesses: Platform Evolution Module
Offers an overview of conceptual content and pedagogical guidance for instructors using a six-session module, "Platform Evolution," from "Managing Networked Businesses" (MNB), a case-based MBA elective course on platform-mediated networks. The module explores the...
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Keywords:
Business Ventures;
Networks;
Business or Company Management;
Rights;
Business Strategy;
Problems and Challenges;
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Market Transactions;
Innovation and Invention;
Marketing;
Competition;
Market Entry and Exit
Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Managing Networked Businesses: Platform Evolution Module." Harvard Business School Module Note 808-063, August 2007.
- March 2014
- Teaching Note
Intuit QuickBooks: From Product to Platform
By: Andrei Hagiu and Elizabeth J. Altman
This case focuses on the challenges and opportunities faced by a successful incumbent organization attempting to transform a large portion of its business from a traditionally product-centric operating mode to a platform-based one that leverages network effects to...
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- 2024
- Working Paper
Antitrust Platform Regulation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from China
By: Ke Rong, D. Daniel Sokol, Di Zhou and Feng Zhu
Many jurisdictions have launched antitrust enforcement and brought in regulation of large tech platforms. The swift and strict implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy (Platform Guidelines) provides a quasi-natural experiment...
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Keywords:
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Competition;
Venture Capital;
Market Entry and Exit;
Supply and Industry;
China
Rong, Ke, D. Daniel Sokol, Di Zhou, and Feng Zhu. "Antitrust Platform Regulation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from China." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-039, January 2024.
- Article
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms
In a platform-mediated network, users rely on a common platform, provided by one or more intermediaries, that encompasses infrastructure and rules required by users to transact with each other. A fundamental design decision for firms that aspire to develop...
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Keywords:
Governance Controls;
Digital Platforms;
Infrastructure;
Competition;
Cooperation;
Information Infrastructure
Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms." California Management Review 50, no. 4 (Summer 2008).
- Teaching Interest
Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms
By: Andy Wu
Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or enabling the broad exchange of goods...
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- January–February 2019
- Article
Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
In the digital economy, scale is no guarantee of continued success. After all, the same factors that help an online platform expand quickly—such as the low cost of adding new customers—work for challengers too. What, then, allows platforms to fight off rivals and grow...
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Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti. "Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don't." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 1 (January–February 2019): 118–125.
- 2008
- Working Paper
Platform Competition, Compatibility, and Social Efficiency
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda
Katz and Shapiro (1985) study systems compatibility in settings with one-sided plat- forms and direct network effects. We consider systems compatibility in settings with two-sided platforms and indirect network effects to develop an explanation why markets with...
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Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda. "Platform Competition, Compatibility, and Social Efficiency." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-058, October 2008. (Revised November 2009.)
- May 2019 (Revised March 2022)
- Module Note
Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem
By: Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky
This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs,...
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Keywords:
Multi-Sided Platforms;
Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Market Entry and Exit;
Problems and Challenges;
Competitive Advantage
Wu, Andy, David R. Clough, and Sasha Kaletsky. "Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Problem." Harvard Business School Module Note 719-507, May 2019. (Revised March 2022.)
regulating — and competing with — decentralized software platforms
New platforms reinvent traditional markets as varied as transport, short-term accomodations, and media. (Consider Uber, Airbnb, and YouTube.) With new business models come new questions of regulation which Edelman and coauthor Damien Geradin assess in View Details
- Research Summary
Technological Competition in Computing
On what dimensions do computing platforms compete, and how does that competition help or hinder the deployment of technical standards? What principles shape choices over platform governance, and how do those choices shape competitive outcomes? In this line of... View Details
- May 2011 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
Nokia: The Burning Platform
By: Juan Alcacer, Tarun Khanna and Mary Furey
Overview on the state of Nokia since the “Emerging Nokia?” case was written.
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Keywords:
Business Strategy;
Corporate Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Marketing Strategy;
Emerging Markets;
Network Effects;
Telecommunications Industry;
Computer Industry
Alcacer, Juan, Tarun Khanna, and Mary Furey. "Nokia: The Burning Platform." Harvard Business School Case 711-514, May 2011. (Revised May 2011.)
- 2007
- Working Paper
Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations
By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
This paper seeks to answer three questions. First, which drives the success of a platform, installed base, platform quality or consumer expectations? Second, when does a monopoly emerge in a platform-based market? Finally, when is a platform-based market socially...
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Keywords:
Price;
Network Effects;
Digital Platforms;
Monopoly;
Quality;
Competitive Advantage;
Digital Platforms
Zhu, Feng, and Marco Iansiti. "Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-031, November 2007.
- Research Summary
Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations
Researchers debate the role of installed base, platform quality and consumer expectations in driving the success of platforms. We analyze these three factors in a dynamic model where a new entrant with superior quality competes with an incumbent platform, and... View Details
- 31 Jul 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Investment Incentives in Proprietary and Open-Source Two-Sided Platforms
- 17 Apr 2014
- News
York Street Partners, Busbud Take Top Honors in Alumni New Venture Competition
With online crowd votes from more than 1,200 alumni and MBA students, the winners of the 2014 alumni New Venture Competition have been crowned. Winner of the crowd-voted Most Innovative and Greatest Impact categories is York Street...
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- 22 Jul 2019
- Book
How to Be a Digital Platform Leader
are very successful in the early stages of a platform they often think the market has tipped and they don't need to worry about competition and new technology. They lose their paranoia. The reality is, even...
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Keywords:
by Martha Lagace
- June 21, 2019
- Article
When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms
By: Feng Zhu
One common complaint from third parties about platform businesses is that they see what succeeds on their platforms and then enter the most profitable areas themselves, often decimating third parties in the process. Studies have identified several motivations for...
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Keywords:
Platform-based Markets;
Platform-owner Entry;
Digital Platforms;
Market Entry and Exit;
Competition
Zhu, Feng. "When Tech Companies Compete on Their Own Platforms." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 21, 2019).
- 28 Mar 2018
- Research & Ideas
Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms
iPhoto Marketplace lending platforms such as LendingClub and Prosper have made significant competitive inroads against traditional banks in recent years by bringing together people who want to borrow with...
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- Forthcoming
- Article
Strategic Decision Making at Platform Transitions: The Case of Nokia (2010-2011).
By: Timo O. Vuori and Michael Tushman
We studied Nokia’s decision to adopt the Windows platform in 2011 to induce new theory on the emotional dynamics of incumbent firms’ strategic decision making at platform transitions. We find that platform companies’ entry into an established industry activates a...
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Vuori, Timo O., and Michael Tushman. "Strategic Decision Making at Platform Transitions: The Case of Nokia (2010-2011)." Strategic Management Journal (forthcoming). (Pre-published online April 23, 2024.)