Subject
Strategic management of multi-sided digital platforms (henceforth MSPs) in the Digital Age.

Goals and objectives
Digital economy comprises a large and rapidly growing share of the world economy and the transformation from analog to full-scale digital business is happening quickly. However, firms in digital economy face distinctive management challenges as a digital business requires much more than technology (e.g., leadership, talent and skills management, and new business models).

Multi-sided platforms comprise a large and rapidly growing share of the world digital economy. MSPs are increasingly prevalent: 60 of the world’s 100 largest global companies earn most of their revenue from MSPs. MSPs concepts are new: first academic papers on “two-sided” networks published in 2003.

Firms in MSPs face distinctive management challenges. Familiar rules such as value-based pricing may fail. Traditional barriers to entry may no longer hold. Due to network effects, platform intermediaries often enjoy increasing returns to scale; their industries have room for only a few players. In many MSPs, network effects are so strong that a single platform prevails. When winners take most, little is left for losers, as evidenced by the spectacular success of some platform providers, for example, Amazon, eBay, Google, Apple and Facebook.

With increasing shifts and changes of business landscapes, firms in both developed and emerging economies are challenged by how to manage and to innovate through MSPs, and to expand operations abroad by using MSPs for successful establishment and localization of their businesses in foreign countries in order to outperform rivals.

The course focuses on how digital business is carried out, including innovative technologies, strategy, business models, value chain, infrastructure, services, planning, marketing, and electronic retailing, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of digital business. It introduces participants to the many ways platform markets are transforming the economy, and provides strategies for designing, monetizing, and launching a digital platform. Participants will learn about the fundamentals of digital business and digital transformation, identify why platforms beat products and how can they make their business a platform. They will learn how to launch and grow a digital platform and identify how to leverage open innovation for a platform. This course also equips participants with the knowledge on governing platform, strategically evaluating competition and provides students with a futuristic view of digital innovations and digital transformation across industries.

The course provides an opportunity to work on real-life platform-related business ideas and case studies.

The course offers the basics of digital business and includes understanding of the concepts, terminology and technologies related to digital business and concepts of multi-sided platforms and markets that are widely used for strategic decisions in digital business.

At the end of this course students will have a deeper understanding of benefits of digital commerce business models as well as practical challenges to overcome before they can be successfully implemented.

At the end of this course, participants will learn to:
− Define platform businesses, distinguishing among input suppliers, markets and true platforms, and why these differences matter.
− Recognize and know how to compete in winner-take-all markets, one, and many-sided networks, and the context of multi-homing.
− Understand how traditional business-models break down in the context of platforms, choosing from an array of freemium, bundled, and other business-model patterns.
− Address the barriers that firms face in trying to organize themselves as platform firms.
− Develop strategies for launching new platforms when critical mass is important.
− Articulate the platform multi-layer enterprise architecture.
− Identify the launch strategy for their platform to help them gain traction, and grow their platform by leveraging modularity and APIs.
− Understand the anti-trust implications of platform strategies and safe harbor defenses.
− Gain insights into the impact and opportunities of adopting platform strategies in different industries.

Students should attend all classes. However, students may miss 10% of the total class hours – in case a class overlaps with another one. Cases of sickness should be dealt with on an individual basis.

In this course digital transformation of businesses will be discussed through both theoretical and practical evidence around the following topics:
− Global and regional digital business strategies,
− Digital business models,
− Design and technology management,
− Business cases,
− Group project development,
− Hand-on practice.

Final exam 50%

Course work 50%

Course work includes:
1.    Class and home assignments – 15 %
2.    Group project – 25 %
3.    Cases  – 10 %

The course is appropriate for:
– Students planning entrepreneurial ventures in digital business.
– Students whose careers as managers, investors, or consultants will focus on digital businesses.

Please bring your laptop/notebook to class!