Platform Variety

March 02, 2021

Read The Full Prompt

Digital technologies give rise to a variety of platforms. Think about how iTunes makes apps available for iPhone users or Match.com helps those seeking partners.

For this assignment, please pick ONE of the following two options:

1) Identify a platform firm, describe how it creates and capture value, and evaluate its scalability and sustainability.  To make it interesting, please stay away from well-known platforms such as those owned by Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft.

2) Identify a firm that tried to work with a platform (e.g., Australian banks or X-Fire) or tried to become a platform (e.g., Lexoo). Describe the opportunities and challenges in its journey.

In both cases, stress the strategy for value creation, but feel free to make observations about aspects of value capture.

Create an approximately 750-word post. Make your contribution by 6pm on March 2.

Please also respond to and comment on three other posts by 8am on March 3. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos, and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Selected posts will be discussed in class and also featured on the HBS Digital Initiative website.

Please prepare a 2-3 min summary of your blog post before class.

Submitted (30)

Slickdeals: Treasure Hunting
Jibran Ahmad
Last modified on March 1, 2021 at 1:02 pm
Slickdeals is a crowdsourced, deal-oriented eCommerce platform.
Opendoor: Transforming the Residential Real Estate Market
Merrill
Posted on March 2, 2021 at 4:25 pm
Residential real estate is one of the largest markets yet to be transformed by digitalization. Opendoor is trying to change that.
Le Bon Coin: The secrets of a local business model
Stéphane V
Last modified on March 2, 2021 at 4:41 pm
This is the story of a company with very strong ambitions of local growth. Outside of France, people rarely heard of the name “Le Bon Coin” (in English “the good corner”), but it would be hard to find a single [...]
Faire: Helping Small Brands and Retailers Succeed Together in the Digital Age
Francisco Cortes
Posted on March 1, 2021 at 7:12 pm
Online marketplace helping retailers find their next big hit by empowering small brands to go into wholesale.
WeWork – How mystic energy led to a superfluous valuation
Molefe Choane
Posted on March 2, 2021 at 5:06 pm
Capture the rise and fall of WeWork. Taking the lense of how WeWork created and captured value and then looking at how it wasn't scalable and sustainable.
Kaspi. Kazakhstan. Very Nice!
Almas Kaptagayev
Last modified on March 2, 2021 at 10:56 pm
We are not a bank. Banks think in terms of the back office. We are at the front end of the relationship between the customer and our products and services. Are we a financial services company? Yes. Are we a [...]
1 2