Publications

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a... View Details

Keywords: Platform Systems; Step Processes; Computer Architecture; Modularity; Information Technology; Digital Platforms

SSRN

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April 2013 (Revised June 2018)
Teaching Note

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google 2018

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Keywords: Amazon; Apple; Facebook; Google; Online Platforms; Marketing; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing

Web

Verification | HBS Online

Congratulations on earning your Certificate of Completion or Credential of Readiness from Harvard Business School Online! Your successful course completion can be verified directly from your digital resume or LinkedIn profile by adding... View Details

01 Mar 2024
News

What is Web3?

Web3, a new era of the internet, uses blockchains, tokens, and wallets (tools for storing and managing digital assets) to facilitate a wide range of services and functionalities, including the transfer of assets from person-to-person. It... View Details

March 2020
Module Note

Scaling and Sustaining Platform Businesses

By: Feng Zhu

Keywords: Platform Businesses; Platform Disruption; Platforms; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry

December 2019
Article

El negocio de las plataformas

By: Annabelle Gawer, Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie

Keywords: Platform; Digital Platforms

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2013
Article

Optimizing the Amount of Entertainment in Advertising: What's So Funny about Tracking Reactions to Humor?

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Horst Stipp

Humor and other entertaining content, as opposed to demonstrations of product features and "selling," are increasingly used in advertising, such as TV commercials, to attract and keep consumers' attention. This study uses facial tracking to explore how marketers can... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Content; Entertainment; Face Perception; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Television Entertainment; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

May 24, 2021
Article

What Makes an Online Marketplace Disruptive?

By: Clifford Maxwell and Scott Duke Kominers

Platforms like Airbnb, eBay, and Angie’s List have changed how markets work. But while many are innovative and make life easier for consumers, which are truly disruptive? Hewing to Clay Christensen’s theory of disruption, platforms—which operate as online... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Disruption; Framework

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Jun 21 2016
Testimonial

Stepping Back and Gaining Perspective

Mar 10 2016
Testimonial

A Global Perspective, An Enriched Network

September 2017
Case

NBCUniversal Telemundo: Transforming Latino Television

By: Henry W. McGee, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Christine Snively

In August 2017, Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, considered how the Miami-based Spanish-language TV network Telemundo could succeed in a rapidly shifting media landscape. Over the past few years,... View Details

Keywords: Television Industry; Television Advertising; Broadcasting; Telecommunications; Internet; Television Entertainment; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Telecommunications Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Miami

Educators

Web

Accessibility | About

Accessibility Harvard University and HBS are committed to making University Information Technology and University Digital Content accessible. Beginning in June 2023 the University has a new Digital... View Details

2008
Working Paper

The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard

The central role of "platform" products and services in mediating the activities of disaggregated "clusters" or "ecosystems" of firms has been widely recognized. But platforms and the systems in which they are embedded are very diverse. In particular, platforms may... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Industry Clusters; Infrastructure; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms

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01 Jun 2017
News

Drawing on the Crowd for Innovative Problem-Solving

problem-solving challenges. “I became a professor to understand why communities, like those that create open-source software, were innovating. It did not correlate with my intuition about the best ways to incentivize innovation and organize people,” says Lakhani, who... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Estonia, Incorporated

he needs to travel to Estonia or attend a session of the UN General Assembly across town. The payoff? A chance to chart the digital future of an entire country. In April, Estonia became the first country in the world to offer e-Residency,... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

2023
Chapter

Generalized Matching: Contracts and Networks

By: John William Hatfield, Ravi Jagadeesan, Scott Duke Kominers, Alexandru Nichifor, Michael Ostrovsky, Alexander Teytelboym and Alexander Westkamp

Keywords: Matching; Matching With Contracts; Matching Markets; Matching Platform; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Economics; Networks

June 2020
Article

Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions

By: Ron Adner, Jianqing Chen and Feng Zhu

We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Compatibility; Platform Competition; Profit Foci; Digital Platforms; Competition; Profit; Decision Making