Platform Economy and Business

Course goals

Learning objectives
At the end of the course, the student is able to:

• understand the platform economy and its manifestations in business and society to identify and evaluate relevant opportunities and challenges
• understand and apply theories and theoretical frameworks related to the concept platform economy
• develop successful strategies to create value for customers, companies, and workers
• understand and apply management and marketing techniques to analyse and solve platform economy business cases
• critically reflect upon inherent ethical or moral issues and their implications for businesses and society

Content

Powerful platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon shape markets and redefine value creation. While traditional business models focus on producing and selling goods or services, platforms focus on creating value through connecting parties. This goes along with various changes in company strategy and consumer behavior. Platforms allow for consumer co-creation – they change from only being recipients of products and services to gig workers delivering services or providing assets. Simultaneously, platforms can offer a large variety of opportunities to consumers and therefore reshape sectors such as transportation or e-commerce. Based on their traits, platform business models lead to unprecedented opportunities for companies and private individuals but simultaneously open possibilities for exploitation.

Alongside these novel business models, new rules, uncertainties, and consumer demands arise. With the increasing relevance of platform businesses, established performance frameworks become obsolete. Accordingly, traditional approaches to analyse competitive environments, strategies, and business models merit re-design or adaptation.

This course offers relevant insights into the characteristics of the platform economy to provide guidance in this novel field. While building on established managerial concepts, it teaches novel approaches and adaptations in the context of management and marketing to establish and manage business models, address consumers, and create value. Therefore, it builds on theoretical insights from academic disciplines such as management, entrepreneurship, ethics, and especially marketing.

Within the scope of this course, we dive into the underlying terminology and structures of the platform economy, assess relevant business cases regarding this phenomenon, and discuss its implications on society in general and consumer behaviour in particular.  For a comprehensive understanding, the course offers a balance between the practical side of platform economies and the underlying theories that help shape aspects such as the sharing economy, the gig economy, ecosystems, etc.

This knowledge empowers graduates for future engagement in the platform economy through activities such as platform founding and development, making informed strategic managerial decisions, consulting platform-based services, or reviewing and regulating platforms as a policymaker.

Format
The course includes a series of interactive lectures to teach theoretical knowledge and foundations. Further, a flipped-classroom format enables students to jointly analyse, present, and discuss previous experiences and real-life cases to contribute to the learning process and reflect upon existing business cases.


In case online access is required for this course and you are not in the position to buy the access code, you are advised to contact the course coordinator for an alternative solution. Please note that access codes are not re-usable meaning that codes from second hand books do not work, as well as access codes from books with a different ISBN . Separate or spare codes are usually not available.