Publications

24 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

When Tech Platforms Identify Black-Owned Businesses, White Customers Buy

backfiring,” Luca notes. Customers seek out Black-owned restaurants For the study, Yelp and Wayfair provided data on their platforms and programs. On Yelp, this included information about platform page... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Food & Beverage

February 22, 2023
Article

How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins

Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies... View Details

Keywords: Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Influencer Marketing; Consumer; Organic Growth; Video Advertising; Promotion; Celebrities; Online Advertising; Online Channel; Online Communities; Online Community; Go To Market Strategy; Platform; Media; Media Content; Digital; Digital Culture; Digital Influencers; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Direct-to-consumer; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Sales; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Business Model; Growth Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Communication Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Advertising Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; North America

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18 Dec 2018
News

Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don’t

2024
Working Paper

Platform Information Provision and Consumer Search: A Field Experiment

By: Lu Fang, Yanyou Chen, Chiara Farronato, Zhe Yuan and Yitong Wang

Despite substantial efforts to help consumers search in more intuitive ways, text search remains the predominant tool for product discovery online. In this paper, we explore the effects of visual and textual cues for search refinement on consumer search and purchasing... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; E-commerce; Decision Choices and Conditions; Learning; Internet and the Web

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform

By: Chiara Farronato, Stefano Denicolai and Sarah Mehta

Telepass, until very recently the sole processor of electronic toll payments on Italy’s highways, has ambitions beyond tolling. Since the mid-2010s, the company has been expanding into adjacent services. In 2017, Telepass launched TelepassPay—a mobile payment... View Details

Educators

February 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things

By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust... View Details

Educators

Research Summary

Overview

When information is digitized, it can be aggregated and shared nearly instantly. I am interested in how this acceleration in the aggregation and availability of information, via digitization, affects firms and firm strategy. Platforms have emerged as marketplaces for... View Details

Article

The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective

By: Peter A. Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth and John J. Siegfried

This paper, written by the members of the American Economic Association (AEA) Ad Hoc Committee on the Job Market, provides an overview of the market for new Ph.D. economists. It describes the role of the AEA in the market and focuses in particular on two mechanisms... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Jobs and Positions

Find at Harvard

Web

Harvard Business School Online Courses & Learning Platforms

Choose a subject area: Digital Transformation Marketing Business Essentials Leadership & Management Entrepreneurship & Innovation Strategy Finance & Accounting Business in Society New Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy New... View Details

Strategies for Two-Sided Markets

Many blockbuster products and services that have redefined the global business landscape are built around platforms that tie together two distinct groups of users in a network. Examples include credit cards that link consumers and merchants; operating systems that... View Details

June 2023
Supplement

Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

Many markets are organized around platforms that connect consumers with complementary applications and services. These platforms are two-sided because both sides - consumers and those providing applications or services - need access to the same platform to interact. A... View Details

Keywords: Customer Acquisition; Platform Strategy; Technology Platform; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Network Effects

May–June 2021
Article

Capturing Value in Platform Business Models that Rely on User-Generated Content

By: Hemang Subramanian, Sabyasachi Mitra and Sam Ransbotham

Business models increasingly depend on inputs from outside traditional organizational boundaries. For example, platforms that generate revenue from advertising, subscription, or referral fees often rely on user-generated content (UGC). But there is considerable... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Network Effects; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Risk and Uncertainty

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19 May 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective

Keywords: by Peter A. Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth & John J. Siegfried

When Should a Social Platform Give People Fewer Choices and Charge More for Them?

Existing economic wisdom offers unequivocal advice to managers seeking to establish new platform businesses: Invest to acquire users as quickly as possible and make sure that they have ... View Details

28 Jul 2020
News

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Racial Discrimination

Keywords: discrimination; Hospitality

2015
Government Testimony

Price Coherence in Online Platforms — Impact and Responses

By: Benjamin Edelman and Julian Wright

We examine the role of price coherence in shaping market structure and offer policy recommendations to advance both efficiency and equity. View Details

Keywords: Price Coherence; Price Parity; MFN; Distribution Channels; Market Design; Travel Industry; Financial Services Industry

19 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Strategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies

Keywords: by Emmanuel Farhi & Andrei Hagiu

June 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Teaching Note

Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise Teaching Note

By: Feng Zhu

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 623-092. Many markets are organized around platforms that connect consumers with complimentary applications and services. These platforms are two-sided because both sides—consumers and those providing applications or services—need access... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Customer Acquisition; Technology Platform; Competitive Strategy; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Management Skills