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Writer's pictureRon Kersic

Platform Digest — 21.01

👋 On time for your weekend: this year’s first round-up of stories at the intersection of #platforms, #marketplaces and #business, and stood out.


Don’t Confuse Platforms with Ecosystems:

The ultimate end goal for a platform creator should be the extension of their business into a bigger ecosystem. However, since ecosystems are difficult to build from scratch, an aspiring Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Ma needs to start from a platform business that solves a unique customer pain point, perfect it and then build an ecosystem around it. Ideally, it should be in a space where customers experience a pain point, but the existing solutions are either absent or poorly executed.

🤭 Platform ≠ Ecosystem (and Ecosystem ≠ Business Model)—INSEAD Blog


Why Platform Companies Are the Opposite of Traditional Companies, Why They Become So Enormous, and How They Can Be Regulated:

They should be held accountable. They are umpire and player in their own ball game ... There are a couple of solutions we need to work with. One of these is to not the horizontal separation—splitting companies up across different marketplaces—but the separation of the value on top from the infrastructure on the bottom. Imagine for example, you separate the social underneath from the advertising on top.

🙃 Your 20-minute refresher course—Marshall van Alstyne, 3 Takeaways


Taking Ecosystems Competition Seriously in the Digital Economy:

A digital ecosystem is typically reliant on the technological leadership of one or more firms that provide a “platform” around which other system members called “complementors”, ie supply chain actors providing inputs and complementary goods, align their investments and strategies. Five concepts characterize the concept of business ecosystem.

🤓 Manna for platform nerds—OECD


Please, feel free to send tips and ideas for a next issue by commenting to this post. Or, send them directly to hello@futuring-architectures.com 🙏

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