Geoff Parker

Platform Revolution provides a practical guide to the new economy that is transforming the way we live, work, and play. Uber. Airbnb. Amazon. Apple. PayPal. All of these companies disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret to their success?

Platform Revolution explains ways to identify prime markets and monetize networks. Addressing current business leaders, the book describes the strategies behind some of today’s up-and-coming… Show more

Platform Revolution provides a practical guide to the new economy that is transforming the way we live, work, and play. Uber. Airbnb. Amazon. Apple. PayPal. All of these companies disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret to their success?

Platform Revolution explains ways to identify prime markets and monetize networks. Addressing current business leaders, the book describes the strategies behind some of today’s up-and-coming platforms, such as Tinder and SkillShare, and explains how traditional companies can adapt in a changing marketplace. The book also covers essential issues concerning security, regulation, and consumer trust, while examining markets that may be ripe for a platform revolution, including healthcare, education, and energy. Show less

The article explains how new entrants overrun incumbents by exploiting the power of platforms and leveraging the new rules of strategy they give rise to. Platform businesses bring together producers and consumers in high-value exchanges. Their chief assets are information and interactions, which together are also the source of the value they create and their competitive advantage. We describe what strategies firms can deploy to adapt to the shift.

This article summarizes the platform strategy literature and is organized around launch strategies, governance and competition. A platform strategy is the mobilization of a networked business platform to expand into and operate in a given market. A business platform, in turn, is a nexus of rules and infrastructure that facilitate interactions among network users. Platforms provide building blocks that serve as the foundation for complementary products and services. They also match buyers with… Show more

This article summarizes the platform strategy literature and is organized around launch strategies, governance and competition. A platform strategy is the mobilization of a networked business platform to expand into and operate in a given market. A business platform, in turn, is a nexus of rules and infrastructure that facilitate interactions among network users. Platforms provide building blocks that serve as the foundation for complementary products and services. They also match buyers with suppliers, who transact directly with each other using system resources and are generally subject to network effects.
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We used to live in a world where commerce flowed linearly. Firms added value to products, shipped them out and sold them to consumers. Producers and consumers held distinct roles. Value was created upstream and flowed downstream.

No longer.

Our intent is to provide a set of ideas on generating revenues using a digital business model. This white paper will frame the discussion of complex tradeoffs and provide definitions for a digital platform. From definitions, the article will articulate answers to two questions: Is there a Postal digital business model equivalent to Posts' physical business model? If so, how would it work?

Describes the properties of using one business platform to take over another.

The increase in outsourcing and offshoring of complex work has resulted in innovation efforts that require coordination across cultural, geographic and legal boundaries. This paper discusses how problems often arise along the boundaries between organizations and activities with the likelihood of trouble increasing with the complexity of the work being done. The paper then provides guidance on how to define boundaries. Specifically: What activities to combine/separate; what should be in-sourced… Show more

The increase in outsourcing and offshoring of complex work has resulted in innovation efforts that require coordination across cultural, geographic and legal boundaries. This paper discusses how problems often arise along the boundaries between organizations and activities with the likelihood of trouble increasing with the complexity of the work being done. The paper then provides guidance on how to define boundaries. Specifically: What activities to combine/separate; what should be in-sourced or outsourced; and what to onshore or offshore.

Once boundaries have been established, the authors explain how they can be spanned by rules, technology and people. Even so, the complexity of the task makes midcourse corrections likely. Managers must anticipate and adapt their processes in order to reduce risk and, ultimately, cost. Show less

Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened - that is, structured to encourage participation - or closed. This paper reviews factors that motivate decisions to open or close mature platforms. At the platform provider and sponsor levels, these decisions entail: 1) interoperating with… Show more

Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened - that is, structured to encourage participation - or closed. This paper reviews factors that motivate decisions to open or close mature platforms. At the platform provider and sponsor levels, these decisions entail: 1) interoperating with established rival platforms; 2) licensing additional platform providers; or 3) broadening sponsorship. With respect to end users and complementors, decisions to open or close a mature platform involve: 1) backward compatibility with prior platform generations; 2) securing exclusive rights to certain complements; or 3) absorbing complements into the core platform. Over time, forces tend to push both proprietary and shared platforms toward hybrid governance models characterized by centralized control over platform technology (i.e., closed sponsorship) and shared responsibility for serving users (i.e., an open provider role).
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Tells how to make strategic choices and set prices in the context of network effects.

This article develops one of the original theories of two sided markets. It explains how the popular strategy of giving away free goods and services can be profit maximizing. The earlier draft, called "Information complements, substitutes, and strategic product design" on ssrn.com also explains how this creates barriers to entry.