Market Platforms - Publications - Faculty & Research

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20

In 1995, before people “googled” or “yelped,” Angela Hicks (HBS, 2000) was establishing her Angie’s List as a pioneer in the accumulation and dissemination of consumer rating information. Hicks focused on the home repair and maintenance market and, as she put it,... View Details

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02 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

Do Online Dating Platforms Help Those Who Need Them Most?

Over the past decade, socially-focused websites have attracted hundreds of millions of users and changed the social fabric in fundamental ways. The likes of eHarmony and Match.com enable us meet new people. Platforms including Facebook,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

2022
Working Paper

Can a Website Bring Unemployment Down? Experimental Evidence from France

By: Aïcha Ben Dhia, Bruno Crépon, Esther Mbih, Louise Paul-Delvaux, Bertille Picard and Vincent Pons

We evaluate the impact of an online platform giving job seekers tips to improve their search and recommendations of new occupations and locations to target, based on their personal data and labor market data. Our experiment used an encouragement design and was... View Details

Keywords: Online Platform; Digital Platform; Unemployment; Encouragement Design; Job Search; Jobs and Positions; Internet and the Web; Well-being; Outcome or Result; Digital Platforms; France

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21 Sep 2023
Blog Post

Hands-on Learning About Global Markets

saw the cultural differences while developing marketing concepts for Ellie Care, a technology platform based in Buenos Aires providing health and emergency-response monitoring that enables seniors 65+ to... View Details

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Marketing - Faculty & Research

Marketing Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students Featured Publication Frontiers: Can an AI Algorithm Mitigate Racial Economic Inequality? An Analysis in the Context of Airbnb By: Shunyuan... View Details

March 2025
Case

Stagwell: AI and the Future of Marketing

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Radhika Kak

In early 2025, Mark Penn, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Stagwell, a global marketing company with a network of over 70+ agencies that served over 4000 blue-chip customers across 40 countries, was looking at ways that marketers should navigate the disruption emanating... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Innovation Strategy; Change Management; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation; Technology Adoption; Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Creativity; Business Model; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry

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2022
Working Paper

Consumer Demand with Social Influences: Evidence from an E-Commerce Platform

By: El Hadi Caoui, Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton and Robert Schultz

For some kinds of goods, rarity itself is valued. "Fashionable'" goods are demanded in part because they are unique. In this paper, we explore the economics of rare goods using auctions of limited-edition shoes held by an e-commerce platform. We model endogenous entry... View Details

Keywords: Rare Goods; Scarcity; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Auctions

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October 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

PhonePe: Democratizing Payments in India

By: Michael Chu and Rachna Tahilyani

The co-founders of PhonePe, India’s leading digital payment platform are considering pursuing various growth opportunities in a huge country just entering the digital age. In a highly competitive industry, the founders are keenly aware that making the right choices is... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Digital Banking; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Financial Services Industry; Asia; India

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2009
Working Paper

Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search? - Companion Paper

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

This companion paper contains several extensions of the model presented in our main paper - Hagiu and Jullien (2009). View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two Sided Markets; Platform Design; Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

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November 2015
Case

Upwork: Reimagining the Future of Work

By: Feng Zhu, Rory McDonald, Marco Iansiti and Aaron Smith

Upwork, the world's largest freelance talent platform, was the result of a merger between the two leading online freelancing companies in 2014, Elance and oDesk. After the merger, the company operated as Elance-oDesk and continued to manage two online... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Employment; Digital Platforms; Market Transactions; Business Processes; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Job Search

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02 Sep 2011
Working Paper Summaries

First-Party Content, Commitment and Coordination in Two-Sided Markets

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Daniel Spulber

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

School, defines these multi-sided markets as platforms that serve two or more distinct groups of customers who value each other's participation. Examples: EBay provides markets... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

05 Aug 2002
What Do You Think?

Is Platform Leadership Old Hat or the Wave of the Future?

determine whether the practice results in "collusion and monopoly?" In fact, does platform leadership have to be confined to those firms developing technology? Can it just as well be established by View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Sep 2023
News

Hands-on Learning About Global Markets

A certificate of appreciation was presented to Ellie Care representatives Francisco Garcia Zavaleta (COO) and Gervasio Videla Dorna (cofounder and CEO), at left, and to Patricio Alba (cofounder and CIO), far right, by HBS students Maxwell Nii Laryea, third from left,... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

July 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Qihoo

By: Feng Zhu

Qihoo, one of the largest Internet companies in China today, was founded in 2005. The company started its business by offering a security software product, and quickly dominated the market in China after its unusual move of giving its product away for free in 2009.... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Business Model Innovation; Chinese Internet Market; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

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Article

How to Launch Your Digital Platform: A Playbook for Strategists

By: Benjamin Edelman

The ubiquity of Internet access has caused a sharp rise in the number of businesses offering platforms that connect users for communication or commerce. Entrepreneurs are particularly drawn to these platforms because they create significant value and have modest... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Launch; Mobilization Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Network Effects; Adoption; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Transportation Industry; Financial Services Industry

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Article

Product Quality and Entering Through Tying: Experimental Evidence

By: Hyunjin Kim and Michael Luca

Dominant platform businesses often develop products in adjacent markets to complement their core business. One common approach used to gain traction in these adjacent markets has been to pursue a tying strategy. For example, Microsoft pre-installed Internet Explorer... View Details

Keywords: Tying; Platform Strategy; Google; Product; Quality; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Market Entry and Exit

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01 Dec 2013
News

To Market, to Market

donor), the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator identifies early-stage, highly promising technologies developed by Harvard University faculty, then helps those selected navigate the early stages of development so that they can go to market... View Details

Keywords: Scientific Research and Development Services

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

Spotify's Audio-First Strategy: Leading the Podcasting Market

By: Hong Luo and Carol Lin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-439. Within 15 years, CEO Daniel Ek had led Spotify from an ambitious startup to a multi-billion dollar company that had transformed the music industry. As part of Spotify’s next phase of growth, the platform would invest heavily in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Customer Relationship Management; Revenue; Music Industry

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January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

eToro: Building the World's Largest Social Trading Network

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Social trading platform eToro was preparing for the launch of its expanded offering in the U.S. The company faced critical decisions regarding product-market fit, go-to-market strategy, positioning and monetization. Moreover, it faced the challenge of how best to make... View Details

Keywords: Social Trading Platform; Investment; Social and Collaborative Networks; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Digital Platforms

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