Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy - and How to Make Them Work for You

Disclaimers: I do not know the authors; I did buy the book from Amazon; I have no financial stake in the book; I am not a robot reviewer. My summary is that this book is essential reading for anyone who is part of any of the digital revolutions going on today. This includes those in business and those in information technology. You need to include the "platform mentality" in your business planning. I didn't give the book five stars for three reasons. One, a few references in the text seemed really out of date. Apparently no one caught those in the editing process. Second, in truth, the platform revolution started quite a while ago. Companies like CH Robinson have been successfully using it in the logistics business years before Facebook. Finally, all is not roses in platforms. Who is going to guarantee the quality of Uber cars and drivers, for example? Online reviews (like this one) are not 100% reliable and only a few bad apples can ruin the barrel. But it is an exciting time and an exciting book.

So I tend to agree with the authors’ point on the power of platform-based models to disrupt existing business models. No doubt some changes this wrought are for the better.But in December 2018, the story rings hollow, due to the frankly awful practices of many of the largest platforms. The complete inability of the “best” platforms (so-called by the authors) to consider seriously and honestly the way in which they use data strikes a mortal blow to the authors’ vision of a platform based economy. At best, we now know that such is possible only via massive regulation of the industry (which the authors are expressly opposed to) or by everybody giving up a right to privacy - often without knowing that they have. Hopefully the authors do not favor the latter; and their writing does make clear the potential for “negative externalities”, even if this one is not expounded upon.This isn’t to deny the basic premise; but the book needs a new edition in the post-2016 election, government data usage, Cambridge analytica era. I would read this book.

As a software engineer working in California for several years I found the book to be disappointingly lacking in useful content. Since the book was written by academics, and since others had mentioned this book as a high-content alternative to other platform books out there I had high expectations. The book lacks a clear theory, and reads more as a list of activities that large platform companies have performed to succeed. If you've worked close to platform companies you've probably already heard it all before. I understand that this book may be useful to those that have not had any exposure to a platform company, but I just came off of reading the Innovator's Solution—a business book that is insight after insight even after you've worked in a business. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about this book.The pros are that the book is well organized, well written, and the authors have given clear definitions and names to various elements of platform businesses. I was on the edge between giving it 3 stars or 2. Amazon's description of 2 stars is "I don't like it", which sums up my opinion.

Every so often I lead workshops on pricing strategy. For the past several years I have been telling people that if you are in a conventional business (what Parker, Van Alstyne and Choudary call a 'pipeline business') and you are competing against a platform business you have already lost. Pipeline businesses do not have winning strategies against multisided markets, or as this book calls them 'platform businesses.' This book is the single best introduction I have read to Platform Businesses. If you use (and if you are reading this you do use a Platform Business, Amazon), are working on or may compete against a Platform Business you need to read this book. I have been recommending it to my own team at TeamFit.co to my investees and to companies that come to me for pricing advice.Platform Revolution has many strong points.It explains the feedback loops and network effects (positive and negative) that drive platform business dynamics, the chapter on monetization is excellent and the chapter on governance is a must read (I think I will send a copy to Vancouver's mayor). The book even has a short section on data ownership, which is likely to emerge as a major social issue over the next decade (ask yourself, why does the company I work for own my employee records, why don't I own them too!).Platform Revolution is not perfect of course. My main complaint is the lack of useful diagrams. The book is sketch poor and I found that I had to keep a notebook and pencil beside me as I read to make sure I was following all of the interactions of forces and to give me some mnemonics to remember what I was reading. This is good in that it helped me to build up my own mental models, but I would prefer to have shared sketches that I could use in business planning with other people. I also found the characterization of the two sides of a market as 'producers' and 'consumers' limiting. This is not a useful model to describe many two-sided market interactions, as the authors themselves noticed when they talked about dating sites (dating sites are a good thing to study to learn a lot about very dynamic two-sided markets). I also found the discussion of Porter's Five Forces to be simplistic and dismissive. This seems to be an MIT thing as other people associated with MIT have the same blinkers. A more useful approach would be to look at how each aspect of the five forces gets drawn into platform markets.There are some other good books to read on this theme. I would also recommend Platform Ecosystems by Amrit Tiwana, Matchmakers by David Evans and Modern Monopolies by Moazed and Johnson. But Platform Revolution is an excellent place to start.

A solid "101" level book. A little repetitive, but if you're not familiar with platforms, then the repetition is probably very helpful. If you are familiar with platforms, then this might not be as compelling of a good book for you. I found the chapter summaries to be good "Cliff's Notes" that allowed me to focus on the important bits and skim the redundant ones.

I found the book very easy to understand. It provides enough background details and information to explain and backup the benefits of platform business models. It also has a balanced view of the possible issues a platform business model can have, but with the added bonus of explaining how to mitigate such risks... I have to be honest and say that I haven't finished reading the book, as I only bought it not so long ago, however I can already see the impact it has had on my work. As the IT Architect of an organisation that has started a Digital Transformation Programme, the platform models fits like a glove.

In this guide to new business model the authors provide a very comprehensive view to platforms, describing all the essential topics from design of a platform to monetisation and strategy. The book is very well written with the authors providing real-world examples to support business cases, ranging from Uber and AirBnB to new emerging startups. In addition to that, authors compare platforms with the "pipeline" businesses and show why old business theories will not work with the platform business model and what should platform managers pay attention to instead. Overall, great read.

This is probably the most well written platform business book.The language in this book may be less accessible as the writing is more professional than colloquial.The concepts covered in this book are comprehensive. As someone who’s trying to turn a pipe business into more of a platform business, the key challenges and strategies addressed in this book are very helpful.

Business models are changing before our eyes and often it's difficult to determine what will emerge. Platform Revolution provides the reader with a well argued possible glimpse into what's coming next. All businesses must consider the conclusions the writers lay out.

A must read for anyone wishing to succeed in this new world! Platforms are here to stay, and like the mega-shopping malls will disrupt everything as we know it!!! No more BAU!