This week the topic is diffusion and social influences. Personally, after reading all the literature from the week, I find platforms with two-sided markets is a very interesting topic. Thus, I looked into this topic and came up with two cases to discuss as well.
First of all, a platform with two-sided markets means that this platform provides a support that facilitates interactions among two sides that it serves or in another word, this platform enables two sided markets to interact with each other. Moreover, nowadays, a multi-sided platform (MSP) is becoming even more popular. Based on the name it is not hard to realize the definition of a MSP which is a platform as providing a support that facilitates interactions among two or more sides that it serves. One example is a platform which is called CareerProfessor. CareerProfessor is an app with different questions which contain different topics such as business cultures, social rituals and job hunting skills etc. The platform aims at connecting students or alumnus with their universities. In the other word, universities can use this app to collect data from their students and alumnus in order to build up a community inside universities. How it works is that only one-sided market needs to pay the services, which is universities in the case. While students do not need to pay any fees. Moreover, only if a university buy the licenses and sending out invitations to their students, then students can have access to the app in the app store. The other example is Adams, a traditional platforms connecting job seekers and companies in the Netherlands. How Adams works is that as a job seeker, it is free to register as a member and they will help them find a suitable position but without any promises. While later if the agency finds a job for a client, that person can either sign the contract with the agency or a company, but no matter in which way, the agency will get part of the salaries as their commission fees.
There are quite some similarities between these two platforms, however, they do use different marketing strategies and approaches to access the markets. In general, I think CareerProfessor has more potentiality to improve its business than Adams, since CareerProfessor as a platform may attract more parties to join. Not only has the app originally concerned about universities and students or alumnus, but also companies may also show more interested in the students graduating from that university due to a good university reputation and high employabilities of its students. Then in a long term, CareerProfessor can develop a multiplatform bundle to include universities, students, alumnus and companies, which definitely will help the company to improve its competitive abilities compared to Adams.
Reference
About Adams Multilingual Recruitment. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2014, from http://www.adamsrecruitment.com/about-us/about-adams.html
Economides, N., & Tåg, J. (2012). Network neutrality on the Internet: A two-sided market analysis. Information Economics and Policy, 24, 91-104. Retrieved from http://www.stern.nyu.edu/networks/Economides_Tag_Net_Neutrality.pdf
Eisenmann, T., Parker, G., and Van Alstyne, M.W. 2006. Strategies for Two-Sided Markets. Harvard Business Review 84(10) 92-101. Retrieved from http://bblp.eur.nl/bbcswebdav/pid-377831-dt-content-rid-3055341_1/courses/BKBMIN030-14/hyatt_sloan08_oh-so-practical%20magic%20of%20open%20source%20innovation.pdf
Hagiu, A., & Wright, J. (2011). Multi-sided Platforms. Harvard Business School. Working Paper. Retrieved from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication Files/12-024.pdf
Hagiu, A. (2007). Multi-sided Platforms: From microfoundations to design and expansion strategies. Harvard Business School. Retrieved from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication Files/07-094.pdf
Klein, B. (2011). The Microsoft Case: What can a dominant firm do to defend its market position? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(2), 45-62. Retrieved from http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.15.2.45
Li, T., Sprengers, D., and van Dalen, J. 2013. Leveraging public sentiment to beat the market. Working Paper. Retrieved from http://bblp.eur.nl/bbcswebdav/pid-377831-dt-content-rid-3055333_1/courses/BKBMIN030-14/wise12_submission.pdf
Peer Pressure and Consumer Behavior. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2014, from http://www.123helpme.com/peer-pressure-and-consumer-behavior-view.asp?id=166811
Rochet, J., & Tirole, J. (2003). Platform competition in two-sided markets. European Economic Association. Retrieved from http://www.rchss.sinica.edu.tw/cibs/pdf/RochetTirole3.pdf
What is CareerProfessor. (2014). Retrieved October 8, 2014, from http://www.careerprofessor.works/about/
