Platform Revolution

Geoffrey Parker is a professor of engineering at Dartmouth College and a visiting scholar and research fellow at the MIT Initiative for the Digital Economy. Before joining academia, he held positions in engineering and finance at General Electric. He has made significant contributions to the economics of network effects as co-developer of the theory of two-sided networks. Parker's work has been supported by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and numerous corporations. Parker advises senior leaders in government and business and is a frequent speaker at conferences and industry events. He received his BS from Princeton and his MS and PhD from MIT.

Facebook, PayPal, Alibaba, Uber - these seemingly disparate companies have upended entire industries by harnessing a single phenomenon: the platform business model. When a company like Uber connects drivers with passengers, everybody wins - except traditional taxi companies which are scrambling to survive. Assumptions about operations, finance, strategy and innovation all change. Platform Revolution explores the what, how and why of this revolution and provides the first owners manual for creating a platform marketplace. Revealing the strategies behind some of todays rising platforms, the authors explain how entrepreneurs - and traditional companies - can thrive in this new world. In cases as diverse as shoes, spices, dating, energy, home appliances and education, Platform Revolution provides the essential guide to unlocking the potential of an economic landscape transformed.

Platform Revolution delivers the first comprehensive analysis of how platforms use technology to match producers and consumers in a multi-sided marketplace, unlocking hidden resources and creating new forms of value. In cases as diverse as shoes, spices, dating, energy, home appliances and education, this book is the essential guide to unlocking the potential of an economic landscape transformed.