Understanding the role of data in platforms: a reading list
Hello, I am Louis-David Benyayer and you are reading Datanomics and strategy, my weekly newsletter on business strategy in a datanomics era.
You can subscribe to receive in your inbox the next editions.
For this edition, I‘ll introduce a new format: The reading list. Please tell me if you find this useful and reply with your own references, I will share an updated version.
For this first edition of The reading list, I decided to share books and resources that shaped my understanding of how platform business models work and the role data plays in platform business models.
I hope you will like it.
Why understanding the role of data in platforms matters
It’s now common to talk about platforms, but let me rapidly tell you why it matters to me (and more generally to strategy making):
Over the last 10 years, platforms created and captured a huge value, challenging the position of incumbents in many industries. After BtoC applications (think about Airbnb and Uber), platforms emerge in BtoB, thanks to the generalisation of Internet of Things technologies, however, the gameplay doesn’t seem to be the same
Previously used by new entrants, platforms business models are now implemented by some incumbent companies in complement or substitution to their legacy business model. Interestingly, some of these companies are stepping back and concentrate on their legacy business model
However attractive because of winner-takes-all situation, the platform economics are particularly hard to master and maintain. A lot of companies try, the large majority fail. Data assets and capabilities are two pillars of platform success and there are various options to access, maintain and develop these assets and capabilities.
My reading list and resources on platforms
So now, here is a selection of what I read and found useful or interesting.
On platform business models key success factors
CICERO S. has developed with his team a methodology "Platform design toolkit" and you can look at their publications on Medium, for example.
CUSUMANO M., GAWER A. (2019), The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power, Harper Business
GAWER A. (2010), Platforms, Markets and Innovation, Edward Elgar Pub
REILLER L., REILLER B. (2017), Platform Strategy: How to Unlock the Power of Communities and Networks to Grow Your Business, Routledge
Research articles on platform economics
HINZ O. (2020), Estimating Network Effects in Two-Sided Markets. Journal of Management Information systems
ROCHET J.C. TIROLE J. (2003), Platform competition in two-sided markets
TAN B., ANDERSON A.G., PARKER G.G. (2020) Platform Pricing and Investment to Drive Third-Party Value Creation in Two-Sided Networks. Information Systems Research
WEN W., ZHU F. (2019), Threat of platform-owner entry and complementor responses: Evidence from the mobile app market. Strategic Management Journal
WULF J., BLOHM I. (2020), Fostering Value Creation with Digital Platforms: A Unified Theory of the Application Programming Interface Design. Journal of Management Information systems
ZHU F., LIU Q. (2018), Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com. Strategic Management Journal
Blog posts on platform economics
CURRIER J., The Intentional Network Effects of Uber
CURRIER J., The Network Effects Manual: 13 Different Network Effects (and counting),
RACHISKY L. How to Kickstart and Scale a Marketplace Business
WARD M., You Think You Understand Network Effects, but You Probably Don’t
Investors views
CHEN A. , What’s next for marketplace startups? Reinventing the $10 trillion service economy, that’s what.
JIN L. 8 Things to Consider When Building Managed Marketplace Companies
LEE K.F., (2018), AI super-powers, HMH
A critical perspective on algorithmic decision making in platforms
MOROZOV E. (2013), To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism, PublicAffairs
O’NEIL C. (2016), Weapons of Math Destruction, Crown Random House
PASQUALE F. (2015), The black box society, Harvard University Press
ROSENBLAT A. (2018), Uberland : How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work, University of California Press
Now, you have a lot to read, right! Next week, I‘ll share my work and frameworks on this topic.
I would appreciate your feedback, just hit the reply button to email me.
Have a good week
If this has been forwarded to you, you can register clicking the button below to be sure you receive the next weekly editions right in your mail box.