The rise of platform economy. Conceptualization and empirical analysis

Several companies are facing challenges caused by increased competition and globalization. Thus, many
businesses have started to exploit external competences and resources providing a place (generally virtual) in which
different group of users are linked. This trend has led to the diffusion of businesses grounded upon multisided
platforms (MSP) which have opened the new era of the so-called “platform economy”. For example, Uber® is the
most important taxi company in the world although it doesn’t own any taxi, Facebook® provides thousands of
applications and games developed by external developers, Airbnb® is one of the greatest accommodation provider
but it doesn’t own any estate, Alibaba® is among the most quoted retailers, but it does not have any warehouse This
paper deals with the conceptualization of the phenomenon in object. The objective of the project is to study the phenomenon in order to define it, identify the different types of businesses involved, the actors and the main configuration variables.

2014






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Several companies are facing challenges caused by increased competition and globalization. Thus, many
businesses have started to exploit external competences and resources providing a place (generally virtual) in which
different group of users are linked. This trend has led to the diffusion of businesses grounded upon multisided
platforms (MSP) which have opened the new era of the so-called “platform economy”. For example, Uber® is the
most important taxi company in the world although it doesn’t own any taxi, Facebook® provides thousands of
applications and games developed by external developers, Airbnb® is one of the greatest accommodation provider
but it doesn’t own any estate, Alibaba® is among the most quoted retailers, but it does not have any warehouse This
paper deals with the conceptualization of the phenomenon in object. The objective of the project is to study the phenomenon in order to define it, identify the different types of businesses involved, the actors and the main configuration variables.