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'Platformizing' a bad business does not make it a good business

Published: 20 December 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Transaction platforms link third-party applications and services providers with users.

References

[1]
Bond, S. Uber aims to be the 'Amazon of transportation.' Financial Times (Oct. 25, 2018).
[2]
CB Insights. How Uber makes money. (2018), 6--23.
[3]
Clark, K. Uber lost more than $5B last quarter. Techcrunch (Aug. 8, 2019).
[4]
Conger, K. Lyft's first results after I.P.O. show $1.14 billion loss. New York Times (May 7, 2019).
[5]
Cusumano, M.A., Gawer, A., and Yoffie, D.B. The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power (2019), 18--20.
[6]
Farrell, M. WeWork IPO filing reveals huge revenue and losses. Wall Street Journal (Aug. 14, 2019).
[7]
Gindrat, R. Automakers envision a business model for AVs: Selling miles, not cars. Axios.com (Apr. 17, 2019).
[8]
Grant, P. and Morris, K. Virtually no one will lease to WeWork. That's a drag on NYC's office market. Wall Street Journal (Sept. 29, 2019).
[9]
Prang, A. Airbnb plans to go public next year. Wall Street Journal (Sept. 19, 2019).
[10]
Satariano, A. Deliveroo takes a kitchen sink approach to food apps. Bloomberg.com (Jan. 15, 2018).
[11]
Soper, T. Amazon to shut down its Amazon restaurants business in the U.S. Geekwire (June 10, 2019).
[12]
Uber Technologies, Inc. Form 10-Q (June 30, 2019).
[13]
Weed, J. Blurring lines, hotels get into the home-sharing business. New York Times (July 2, 2018).

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  1. 'Platformizing' a bad business does not make it a good business

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    Published In

    cover image Communications of the ACM
    Communications of the ACM  Volume 63, Issue 1
    January 2020
    90 pages
    ISSN:0001-0782
    EISSN:1557-7317
    DOI:10.1145/3377354
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 20 December 2019
    Published in CACM Volume 63, Issue 1

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    Cited By

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    • (2024)Platform Business Groups and the Omni‐Channel Transformation of Food Retailing in ChinaTijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie10.1111/tesg.12656Online publication date: 6-Oct-2024
    • (2022)The Evolution of Research on Industry PlatformsAcademy of Management Discoveries10.5465/amd.2020.00918:1(7-14)Online publication date: Mar-2022
    • (2022)A digital humanism view on e-tourismInformation Technology & Tourism10.1007/s40558-022-00237-624:3(347-360)Online publication date: 11-Oct-2022
    • (2022)Global value chains and digital platforms: Implications for strategyStrategic Change10.1002/jsc.248531:1(161-177)Online publication date: 19-Jan-2022
    • (2021)From absolute nonsense to the world’s operating systemElectronic Markets10.1007/s12525-021-00508-w32:1(145-151)Online publication date: 31-Oct-2021
    • (2020) Uber -production: From global networks to digital platforms Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space10.1177/0308518X2091650752:5(1005-1016)Online publication date: 2-Apr-2020
    • (2020)Electronic Markets on sustainabilityElectronic Markets10.1007/s12525-020-00451-2Online publication date: 6-Dec-2020
    • (2020)Evolution and perspectives of electronic marketsElectronic Markets10.1007/s12525-020-00413-8Online publication date: 1-Apr-2020

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