Platform Business - Publications - Faculty & Research

Video

Explore the HBS Online Course Platform

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... View Details

Citation

Purchase

30 Oct 2018
Working Paper Summaries

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

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin

16 Feb 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Competition Under Partial Belief Advantage

Keywords: by Hanna Halaburda & Yaron Yehezkel; Consumer Products

22 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Competition under Asymmetric Information

Keywords: by Hanna Halaburda & Yaron Yehezkel; Technology

August 2007
Module Note

Managing Networked Businesses: Platform Evolution Module

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

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... View Details

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

Citation

Purchase

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. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Network Effects; Telecommunications Industry; Computer Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

22 Jul 2019
Book

How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

authors explain the fundamentals of platforms, different strategies and business models, common errors, and platform battlegrounds of the future that involve competing technologies and implications for... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2019
Supplement

Upwork in 2019

By: David Yoffie and Allison M. Ciechanover

Stephane Kasriel, the CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, updates his progress on how to redesign its business model in 2019. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Platform; Platform Businesses; Technology; Business Model; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Labor

Citation

Purchase

July 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Upwork: Creating the Human Cloud

By: Dylan Minor and David Yoffie

Stephane Kasriel, the new CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, needs to decide on how to redesign its business model. While the firm has been growing rapidly since the merger of Odesk and eLance, the newly combined firm continues to face problems of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Platform; Platform Businesses; Technology; Business Model; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Labor

Citation

Educators

Purchase

December 2020 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Komatsu and Smart Construction

By: Rajiv Lal, David J. Collis and Akiko Saito

Komatsu, Japan's leading construction equipment manufacturer, is considering investing in a digital platform "Smart Construction" that will digitise the entire work process on a construction site, allowing for substantial reductions in cost and time while improving... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Digital Business; Construction; Business Model; Strategy; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Construction Industry; Japan

Citation

Educators

Purchase

September 6, 2022
Article

Creating a Platform for Costless Personalization in Clothing

By: Shane Greenstein

This study analyzes the role of co-invention in the creation of a platform for print-on-demand-clothing, or PODC. Co-invention is the invention of a new business process to complement new technology, and turn it into a valuable commercial service. PODC copies a design... View Details

Keywords: Print-on-demand-clothing; Customization and Personalization; Digital Platforms; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Citation

Read Now

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... View Details

Keywords: Platform-based Markets; Platform-owner Entry; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition

Citation

Register to Read

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

August 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Gogoro: From Electric Scooter to Energy Platform

By: Tarun Khanna and Billy Chan

The founder of Gogoro had always wanted to revolutionize the energy market from day one since he started the electric scooter business that featured an innovative battery swapping technology. Over the course of five years, he had developed a premium line of electric... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Energy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Taiwan

Citation

Educators

Purchase

May 29, 2022
Article

Pourquoi le business model des plateformes est-il si performant? [Why Is the Platform Business Model So Successful?]

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

Citation

Read Now

28 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms

slice of the consumer-lending business over the last decade. In 2016, these loans represented a third of unsecured consumer loan volume in the United States. And their revenues are expected to grow 20 percent each year over the next five... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

August 2018 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform

By: Chiara Farronato and Elena Corsi

Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo’s CEO, and web developer Chris O’Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo, a UK legal marketplace, to help small and medium enterprises (SME) find legal advice at low prices. Lexoo had recently invested in a new vertical focused on larger companies.... View Details

Keywords: Marketplaces; Legal Services; Growth Strategy; Technology Ventures; Service Operations; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Growth and Development Strategy; Legal Services Industry; United Kingdom

Citation

Educators

Purchase

May 2018
Case

Environmental Platform LEEDership at USGBC

By: Michael W. Toffel, Timothy S. Simcoe and Aldo Sesia

By 2018, it was clear that U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) had significantly contributed to the growth of green building and over its 25-year history had become a powerful brand in the construction sector with its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Standards; Business Model; Leadership; Problems and Challenges; Construction Industry; Green Technology Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase