Publications

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December 2022
Article

Competition, Contracts, and Creativity: Evidence from Novel Writing in a Platform Market

By: Yanhui Wu and Feng Zhu

A growing number of people today are participating in the gig economy, working as independent contractors on short-term projects. We study the effects of competition on gig workers' effort and creativity on a Chinese novel-writing platform. Authors produce and sell... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Platform-based Markets; Novel Writing; Creative Production; Platform Bias; Employment; Digital Platforms; Creativity; Books; Competition; Contracts

March 2022
Article

From Proprietary to Collective Governance: How Do Platform Participation Strategies Evolve?

By: Siobhan O'Mahony and Rebecca Karp

When platform leaders change the rules guiding who can access and control a platform, the strategies of those who create value from the platform can be upended. Little research examines how platform participants adapt their strategies when a platform leader changes the... View Details

Keywords: Platform Governance; Access; Crowdsourcing; Applications and Software; Employees; Leadership Style; Cybersecurity; Risk Management

Research Summary

Platform Competition

Technology has challenged the underlying foundations of business, and firms must evaluate and change strategies accordingly. Professor Halaburda studies the interaction of technology and economic theory, and her findings indicate that conventional wisdom and rules... View Details

10 Jul 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Envelopment

Keywords: by Thomas Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker & Marshall Van Alstyne; Technology

March 2018
Teaching Note

Adaptive Platform Trials: The Clinical Trial of the Future?

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

This teaching note provides guidance and recommendations for teaching HBS Case No. 618-025, entitled “Adaptive Platform Trials: The Clinical Trial of the Future?” View Details

Keywords: Clinical Trials; Drug Trials; Drug Testing; Cancer Trials; Glioblastoma; Platform Trials; Adaptive Trials; Adaptive Platform Trials; Health Testing and Trials; Health Care and Treatment; Business Strategy; Health Industry; United States

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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... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy

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Article

The Ecosystem of Shared Value

By: Mark R. Kramer and Marc W. Pfitzer

Governments, NGOs, companies, and community members must all be involved in programs to create shared value, yet they work more often in opposition than in alignment. A movement known as collective impact has facilitated successful collaborations in the social sector,... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Cooperation

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July 2021
Article

Information Transparency, Multihoming, and Platform Competition: A Natural Experiment in the Daily Deals Market

By: Hui Li and Feng Zhu

Platform competition is shaped by the likelihood of multi-homing (i.e., complementors or consumers adopt more than one platform). To take advantage of multi-homing, platform firms often attempt to motivate their rivals’ high-performing complementors to adopt their own... View Details

Keywords: Platform Competition; Multi-homing; Information Transparency; Daily Deals; Groupon; LivingSocial; Digital Platforms; Information; Competition

10 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-sided Platforms

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright; Technology

10 Dec 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Competition: Betfair and the U.K. Market for Sports Betting

Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell; Entertainment & Recreation

20 Aug 2012
News

The Business Ecosystem

01 Mar 2012
News

Enriching the Ecosystem

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

2013
Working Paper

Competing by Restricting Choice: The Case of Search Platforms

By: Hanna Halaburda and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Seminal papers recommend that platforms in two-sided markets increase the number of complements available. We show that a two-sided platform can successfully compete by limiting the choice of potential matches it offers to its customers while charging higher prices... View Details

Keywords: Matching Platform; Indirect Network Effects; Limits To Network Effects; Decision Choices and Conditions; Network Effects; Two-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Competitive Strategy

SSRN

12 Feb 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Competition, Compatibility, and Social Efficiency

Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda; Computer

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... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Venture Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Supply and Industry; China

24 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators

Keywords: by Kevin J. Boudreau & Andrei Hagiu; Technology

November 2015
Article

Multi-Sided Platforms

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

We study the economic tradeoffs that drive organizations to position themselves closer to or further away from a multi-sided platform (MSP) business model, relative to three traditional alternatives: vertically integrated firms, resellers or input suppliers. These... View Details

Keywords: Two Sided Markets; Reseller; Multi-Sided Platforms; Vertical Integration