Multi-sided Platform Business Research Articles

Non-profit and hybrid organizations as multi-sided platforms: insights from the analysis of sustainability models

PurposeThis study investigates the sustainability models of non-profit and hybrid organizations, which aim to balance economic, social and environmental objectives. The research introduces the Sustainability Model Canvas to analyze these organizations and identify common patterns, unique characteristics and managerial insights to balance the triple bottom line.Design/methodology/approachThe research utilizes the Sustainability Model Canvas to examine the sustainability models of 200 non-profit and hybrid organizations. Data were collected from secondary sources, including articles, reports and websites. The analysis was conducted using the activity system theoretical framework, which helped to identify design elements and themes within the business models of the studied organizations.FindingsThe study reveals four primary sustainability model patterns: donated income, earned income, public income and auto-generated income. An additional mixed approach pattern is identified, combining elements from the four primary patterns. The research highlights the parallels between these sustainability models and multi-sided platform business models, offering managerial suggestions for leveraging these patterns to achieve sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on secondary data, which may limit the depth of insights compared to primary data collection. At the same time, the chance to consider hybrid organization through multi-sided platform lenses provides relevant contributions to both the literature streams.Practical implicationsThe identified sustainability model patterns and managerial suggestions can serve as blueprints for non-profit and hybrid organizations aiming to design or innovate their sustainability models. The Sustainability Model Canvas offers a practical tool for organizations to visualize and balance their triple bottom line objectives.Social implicationsThe research underscores the importance of integrating social and environmental considerations into business models, promoting a holistic approach to sustainability that can lead to broader social and environmental benefits.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the business model literature by extending the focus beyond traditional profit-oriented organizations to include non-profit and hybrid organizations. The introduction of the Sustainability Model Canvas provides a new tool for designing and analyzing sustainability-oriented business models. The study also suggests considering sustainability models as multi-sided platforms, offering new insights for both academic and practical applications.

Non-profit and hybrid organizations as multi-sided platforms: insights from the analysis of sustainability models

PurposeThis study investigates the sustainability models of non-profit and hybrid organizations, which aim to balance economic, social and environmental objectives. The research introduces the Sustainability Model Canvas to analyze these organizations and identify common patterns, unique characteristics and managerial insights to balance the triple bottom line.Design/methodology/approachThe research utilizes the Sustainability Model Canvas to examine the sustainability models of 200 non-profit and hybrid organizations. Data were collected from secondary sources, including articles, reports and websites. The analysis was conducted using the activity system theoretical framework, which helped to identify design elements and themes within the business models of the studied organizations.FindingsThe study reveals four primary sustainability model patterns: donated income, earned income, public income and auto-generated income. An additional mixed approach pattern is identified, combining elements from the four primary patterns. The research highlights the parallels between these sustainability models and multi-sided platform business models, offering managerial suggestions for leveraging these patterns to achieve sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on secondary data, which may limit the depth of insights compared to primary data collection. At the same time, the chance to consider hybrid organization through multi-sided platform lenses provides relevant contributions to both the literature streams.Practical implicationsThe identified sustainability model patterns and managerial suggestions can serve as blueprints for non-profit and hybrid organizations aiming to design or innovate their sustainability models. The Sustainability Model Canvas offers a practical tool for organizations to visualize and balance their triple bottom line objectives.Social implicationsThe research underscores the importance of integrating social and environmental considerations into business models, promoting a holistic approach to sustainability that can lead to broader social and environmental benefits.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the business model literature by extending the focus beyond traditional profit-oriented organizations to include non-profit and hybrid organizations. The introduction of the Sustainability Model Canvas provides a new tool for designing and analyzing sustainability-oriented business models. The study also suggests considering sustainability models as multi-sided platforms, offering new insights for both academic and practical applications.

A CONCEPTUAL CLEANSOLUTION BUSINESS MODEL: EMPOWERING LOW-INCOME B40 COMMUNITIES AS ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH HOUSEKEEPING AND SERTU CLEANING SERVICES

This paper discusses a conceptual business model of housekeeping service, called CleanSolution that aims to provide property care and cleaning management services through the use of a digital platform for business operations. The platform is intended to improve connectedness between housekeeping and sertu cleaning service companies and their workers, aligned to the first, third and eighth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty (SDG1), good health and well-being (SDG3) as well as decent work, and economic development (SDG8). The critical challenge for CleanSolution is to focus on creating work opportunities for B40s and nurturing B40 cleaning entrepreneurs through sertu cleaning services that will benefit potential customers in terms of creating decent work & economic growth (SDG8) for individuals and the country. On top of that, the business provides a sustainable cleaning service including Sertu cleaning which is a Shariah compliance cleaning method for Muslim customers, through a trusted online platform as a medium of communication between customers, workers and the sertu cleaning service companies. CleanSolution is designed, tested, and established as a multi-sided platform business, after conducting surveys in understanding the problems faced by the various customer segments (CS) - customers, workers and the housekeeping & sertu cleaning service companies. Design thinking methodology has been adapted in this paper including empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. The paper outlines the creation of both a Business Model Canvas (BMC) and a Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) to guide the development and implementation of the digital platform.

A CONCEPTUAL TAAJIR MULTI-SIDED PLATFORM BUSINESS MODEL:NURTURING ENTERENEURIAL SKILLS AND ENHANCE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR B40 STUDENTS

It is not a secret that many university students are looking for job opportunities to do during their period of higher education. There are many reasons behind this search of theirs with monetary cases–especially for the B40 students–and job experience seeking that are related to their areas of study, being the top reasons. Unfortunately, finding a job that does not interfere with their studies is very hard to do. This paper is aiming to offer conceptual ideas of Taajir multi-sided platform business model that plan to address the two problems mentioned above which are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in reducing poverty and creating a decent work and economic growth (SDG 1 and SDG 8). This paper discusses the key challenges and extreme pains that various customer segments confront, as well as a conceptual solution for overcoming those challenges. Adapting the Design Thinking (DT) approach using business modelling tools such as the Business Model Canvas (BMC) and the Value Proposition Canvas (VPC), the key problems and extreme pains were identified and viable conceptual solutions were generated. The DT approach entails conducting literature review, benchmarking, and interviews in understanding the extreme pains; ideation and brainstorming, design and testing of business model prototype in the form of BMC and VPC framework with various customer segments via surveys; and establish possible conceptual solutions in terms of business model and low-fidelity apps.

FREEMIUM MULTI-SIDED PLATFORM BUSINESS MODEL: MOSQUE KITCHEN AS A SOURCE OF FREE FOOD, EMPLOYMENT AND EMPOWERMENT OF B40S FOOD-PRENEURS

COVID-19 crisis has pushed more low-income or poor B40 urban Malaysian families into poverty, based on the“Families on The Edge” UNICEF report dated October 2020. The poverty rate of these B40 urban families in 2020 is higher than 2019, with 50% of the families living in absolute poverty. 70% of these households had affected their ability to meet their basic living expenses. 37% said that they are struggling to purchase enough food for their families, while 35% are unable to pay their bills on time. This paper adapted the Design Thinking (DT) methodology. DT includes conducting literature review, benchmarking, and interviews to understand and define the key B40s problems; ideation of possible solution options, validation of solution options by various customer segments; and to suggest a conceptual freemium multi-sided platform business model as a possible solution. An initial business model using Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework was formulated; tested and validated by various customer segments. Hence, the main contribution of this paper is to offer a validated conceptual business model in transforming current mosque kitchen (or mKitchen) as a potential in (a) providing job employment while reskilling, empowering, and nurturing the B40s as food entrepreneurs, (b) providing free food for the needy B40s communityby the B40s food-preneurs, and (c) generating income for the masjid via rental of kitchen facilities. This is to turn the B40 community from Zakat receivers to Zakat contributors. The conceptual mKitchen freemium multi-sided platform business model with platform network effects can be customised for implementation by mosques and community centres.

Carpooling Platforms as Smart City Projects: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review

Carpooling schemes for mutual cost benefits between the driver and the passengers has a long history. However, the convenience of driving alone, the increasing level of car ownership, and the difficulties in finding travelers with matching timing and routes keep car occupancy low. Technology is a key enabler of online platforms which facilitate the ride matching process and lead to an increase in carpooling services. Smart carpooling services may be an alternative and enrichment for mobility, which can help smart cities (SCs) reduce traffic congestion and gas emissions but require the appropriate architecture to support connection with the city infrastructure such as high-occupancy vehicle lanes, parking space, tolls, and the public transportation services. To better understand the evolution of carpooling platforms in SCs, bibliometric analysis of three separate specialized literature collections, combined with a systematic literature review, is performed. It is identified that smart carpooling platforms could generate additional value for participants and SCs. To deliver this value to an SC, a multi-sided platform business model is proposed, suitable for a carpooling service provider with multiple customer segments and partners. Finally, after examining the SC structure, a carpooling platform architecture is presented, which interconnects with the applicable smart city layers.

The Public Responsibility of Platform Corporations

To capture the ethical and political challenges posed by so-called platform corporations, in this paper we develop the concept of public responsibility. Despite the proliferation of research in corporate social responsibility (CSR), existing theories seem to fall short when it comes to the complexities of recent forms of organising. By analysing the concept of a multisided platform business models (MSPs) through a CSR lens, we argue that the responsibilities they face resemble more those of organisations in the public sector (i.e., public utilities) than those normally ascribed to private businesses – hence we develop the concept of public responsibility. We identify five sources of this responsibility: network effects; centrality of data production, collection and monetisation; global scale; and private policy-setting. Consequently, we argue that MSPs uniquely combine them, leading to three dimensions of public responsibility: privacy, accessibility and control of content. By doing so, we show how platform corporations have developed and provide ‘private’ services that in many ways are of ‘public character’, blurring our traditional understanding of public vs. private goods and services.

Enforcing copyright through antitrust? The strange case of news publishers against digital platforms

Abstract The emergence of the multi-sided platform business model has had a profound impact on the news publishing industry. By acting as gatekeepers to news traffic, large online platforms appear to be unavoidable trading partners for news businesses and may exert substantial bargaining power in their dealings. Concerns have been raised that this bargaining power imbalance may threaten the viability of publishers’ businesses. Notably, digital infomediaries are accused of capturing a huge share of the advertising revenue by free-riding on the investments made in producing news content. Moreover, by affecting the monetization of news, the dominance of some online platforms is deemed to have contributed to the decline of trustworthy sources of news. Against this background, governments have been urged to intervene in order to ensure the sustainability of the publishing industry. The EU has decided to address publishers’ concerns by introducing an additional layer of copyright as a means to encourage cooperation between press publishers and online services. And the French Competition Authority has recently accused Google of adopting a display policy aimed at frustrating the objective of the domestic law implementing the EU legislation, hence requiring Google to conduct negotiations in good faith with publishers and news agencies on the remuneration for the reuse of their protected content. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instead embraced a regulatory approach, developing a mandatory bargaining code. The aim of this article is to analyse the different solutions advanced in order to assess their economic and legal justifications as well as their effectiveness.

The Platform Canvas—Conceptualization of a Design Framework for Multi-Sided Platform Businesses

Digital multi-sided platforms reshape today’s economy by reducing coordination costs among participants in a market. The platform’s business model creates and captures value differently than a traditional linear business model. Just as the Business Model Canvas helps entrepreneurs and professionals visualize the essential elements and mechanisms of a linear business model, this paper proposes a Platform Canvas to diagram the essential elements of a multi-sided platform business, including the architectural relations of these elements and the dynamics of the network effect. We then describe how the Platform Canvas can be useful to entrepreneurs, educators and scholars.

Enforcing Copyright Through Antitrust? A Transatlantic View of the Strange Case of News Publishers Against Digital Platforms

The emergence of the multi-sided platform business model has had a profound impact on the news publishing industry. By acting as gatekeepers to news traffic, large online platforms have become unavoidable trading partners for news businesses, and exert substantial bargaining power in their dealings. Concerns have been raised that the bargaining power imbalance between online platforms and content producers may threaten the viability of publishers’ businesses. Notably, digital infomediaries are accused of capturing a disproportionate share of advertising revenue relative to the investments made in producing news content. Moreover, by affecting the monetization of news, the dominance of some online platforms is deemed to have contributed to the decline of trustworthy sources of news. Against this background, governments have been urged to intervene in order to ensure the sustainability of the publishing industry. The EU has decided to address publishers’ concerns by introducing an additional layer of copyright as a means to encourage cooperation between publishers and online content distributors. And the French Competition Authority has recently accused Google of adopting a display policy aimed at frustrating the objective of the domestic law implementing the EU legislation, hence requiring Google to conduct negotiations in good faith with publishers and news agencies on the remuneration for the reuse of their protected content. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instead embraced a regulatory approach, developing a mandatory bargaining code. This paper analyzes different solutions advanced to remedy these problems in order to assess their economic and legal justifications as well as their effectiveness.

Designing a Multi‐Sided Platform business model assessment framework: a Dynamic Performance Management perspective

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to offer an assessment framework to validate multisided platform business models. For this aim, we propose a systemic perspective based on the dynamic performance management approach. This approach is particularly effective to make explicit the net of relationships between internal and external strategic resources, the value creation and capture drivers, and the way such drivers influence platform performances. The developed multisided platform business model assessment framework has been tested by using a success and a failure case, respectively, Airbnb and Take Eat Easy. Research originality results from the combination of multisided platform value creation/capture drivers and innovative approach like the dynamic performance management to assess platforms business models. Findings show that neglecting the role played by value creation and capture drivers and those cause‐and‐effect mechanisms aimed at leveraging critical internal and external strategic resources can lead to platform failure.

The evolution of platform business models: Exploring competitive battles in the world of platforms

In recent decades, multi-sided platform business models have become an important avenue for value creation and capture, but the phenomenon itself remains under-theorized. We address this gap and present new, empirically-driven insights into how platform business models evolve in a context of fierce competition. Through a longitudinal, qualitative study of twelve multi-sided platforms that operate under challenging industry conditions, we discover that success in platform battles can plausibly be explained by a combination of complexity in the business model design, and the simultaneous use of innovation and imitation to create highly intricate systems of activities. We further discuss how our findings open several new avenues for future platform research.

Surveillance Capitalism and Platform Policing: The Surveillant Assemblage-as-a-Service

Based on empirical research on training webinars, interviews, and promotional material from Vigilant Solutions, this paper investigates the surveillance regime enabled by platform policing: the implementation of cloud-based platforms, designed and run by private corporations, that provide mass surveillance-driven simulations for a range of police operations, including predictive policing, targeted surveillance, and tactical and strategic governance. Building on Amoore’s (2016) work on “cloud geographies,” this paper argues that the platform model embodied by Vigilant Solutions involves multivalent processes of de- and reterritorialization in which new technological and datalogical spaces are formed and these erode older societal boundaries of private, public, and state. Specifically, Vigilant Solutions leverages its multi-sided platform business model through the deterritorializing, cloud-based concatenations of surveillant technologies. It then argues that the resultant reterritorialized cloud space, which is accessible through its Vigilant Investigative Centre (VIC) platform, fuses mass surveillance data from diverse private, public, and state sources in a simulated geography. Further, the VIC furnishes to law enforcement an array of data analytics that exploits this cloud geography to enable a boundary-crossing surveillance regime of association analysis and proximal suspicion.

Multi-sided search platforms: global and local

This paper aims to collect, analyse and compare the quality data regarding the current status and prospective evolution of search engine multi-sided platforms offered by leading platform companies. We describe the search multi-sided platforms competition across different markets in a general way and compare several emerging markets where Google multi-sided platform is not a leader. The methodology and organisation of search platform ontology/taxonomy, multi-sided platform business model pattern, and search platform business model pattern are discussed. Then detailed case analysis of search multi-sided platform business models is developed for Yandex search multi-sided platform. Finally, the possible ways of further evolution of global and local search multi-sided platforms is discussed.