Talking about Platforms

By: Daniel Trabucchi Tommaso Buganza and Philip Meier
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  • Summary

  • We bring the latest discoveries from the field platform research right into your preferred podcasting app. Digital platforms are omnipresent in almost all of our daily activities – from booking a fitness class to sending or watching a video clip, going through calling a cab, and ordering a pizza…even listening to this podcast – are mediated by multi-sided platforms. Talking About Platforms is the place where we discover and try to make sense of the underlying mechanisms that have enabled and facilitated the rise of the platforms. We enter a critical discussion on what they can become for people, companies, and our society. In every episode we welcome a platform scholar who will share with us one of his/her latest pieces of research, making it accessible to everyone and chatting with us on what platforms are and where they may go in the future.
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Science
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Episodes
  • Platform Classics: Two-Sided Network Effects

    Platform Classics: Two-Sided Network Effects
    Jan 31 2025
    Parker and Van Alstyne's seminal paper explores two-sided network effects in information markets, demonstrating how firms can strategically offer products for free by leveraging distinct markets of content providers and end consumers. Their model reveals that by understanding network externalities, companies can increase consumer welfare and firm profits simultaneously through sophisticated product coupling and pricing strategies. The research provides critical insights into how digital platforms like operating systems and internet browsers create value by balancing the needs of different user groups, effectively explaining the economic logic behind seemingly counterintuitive business models that offer core products at zero cost.
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    13 mins
  • Externalities and Platform Markets with Paavo Ritala

    Externalities and Platform Markets with Paavo Ritala
    Jan 29 2025
    The discussion begins with positive network externalities, which are broken down into three key factors: accumulation, variety, and utility. Accumulation describes how interconnected items on a platform, such as Wikipedia articles, create value. Variety refers to the value generated by diverse complements, exemplified by apps in an app store. Utility represents the immediate value a platform offers, like an Uber ride. We then explore the concept of negative network externalities, which occur when positive effects become excessive. These include rivalry from increased user numbers, choice overload due to excessive variety, fragmentation from over-accumulation, and value degradation resulting from poor utility. The discussion further introduces the concept of amplified network externalities. This includes network connectivity and horizontal complementarity. Horizontal complementarity, a concept the authors note as underexplored, refers to the value created when platform complements are used together, such as calendar and video conference apps on a smartphone. The authors mention writing another paper focused solely on this concept. They also highlight super apps like WeChat and Grab as examples of platforms attempting to internalize horizontal externalities. This comprehensive framework provides a nuanced understanding of how network effects operate in platform markets, offering insights into both the positive and negative aspects of platform growth and diversification.
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    41 mins
  • Platform Classics: Design Rules, Volume One

    Platform Classics: Design Rules, Volume One
    Jan 24 2025
    Baldwin and Clark's "Design Rules, Volume 1" explores how modular design transforms technological innovation. The book reveals how breaking complex systems into independent, interconnected components enables faster, more flexible technological development. By analyzing design architectures, the authors demonstrate how modularity reduces complexity, accelerates innovation, and provides strategic advantages across technological domains.
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    16 mins

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