Digital Platforms and Ecosystems of Modern Business

2022/2023

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

6

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Department of Business Informatics

Course type:

Elective course

When:

1 year, 3, 4 module

Instructor

Jha, Ashish K.

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Digital platforms are widely observed in modern economies. These are inter-organizational information systems that match buyers and sellers directly in retail (Amazon, Alibaba) and social media (Facebook) to name a few. There is plenty of evidence of how the platforms, thanks largely to technology, shift companies from conventional economy to the digital economy, where companies are able to better utilize their capital assets, reduce idle capacities and get more work. For companies platforms trigger and coordinate inter-firm collaborations, which create ecosystems, here companies cooperate for value creation and compete for value capture. For workers, the platforms create conditions for decentralized work and coordination of their freelancing activities. To thrive and prosper in the digital economy the new generation of managers and entrepreneurs need a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of value creation underpinning the samples of existing digital platforms and abilities to visualise to plan their integration into new platforms. Drawing from cases from a variety of business sectors, students will analyse the barriers, benefits and opportunities of joining the platform business from existing theoretical and practical perspectives, such as two-sided networks, information asymmetry, value chains and system dynamics. Students will interact with major firms represented on the Russian market that has enabled platform strategies and learn how to use a set of frameworks and tools to analyse existing platform businesses and to develop strategies to launch new ones.

Learning Objectives

• Training students skills in an academic work, including preparation and carrying out scientific projects, writing scientific papers in digital platforms & ecosystems
• Training scientific discussion and presentation of ideas, concepts, research results, projects and research papers
• Training methods and skills in scientific forecasting for definition of technological trends in the field of information technologies

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Formulate the main milestones in the development of the subject
• Define the basic concepts of sharing economy
• Identify types of digital platforms
• Identify the main theories explaining the functioning of platforms
• Implement the development of the ecosystem around the platform
• Simulate the development of the ecosystem around the platform within the framework of a system dynamic approach
• Describe business models using digital platforms
• Explain the management of digital platforms
• Define the topology of ecosystems around digital platforms
• Recognize innovations around digital platforms
• Predict the future of digital platforms

Course Contents

• Introduction
• Types of platforms
• Sharing Economy
• Theoretical considerations in Platforms
• Winner takes all
• Nascent Digital ecosystems
• Business Model for platforms
• Information platforms and governance structures
• Network Analytics
• Innovation platforms
• Future of digital platforms

Assessment Elements

• Classroom work and participation
  Activity in the discussion after lectures and seminars
• Group Project
  Defense of the business platformatization project (in a group)
• Exam
  Answer to questions about the content of the course

Interim Assessment

• 2022/2023 4th module
  0.4 * Group Project + 0.4 * Exam + 0.2 * Classroom work and participation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Cristiano Codagnone, Athina Karatzogianni, & Jacob Matthews. (2019). Platform Economics : Rhetoric and Reality in the “Sharing Economy”: Vol. First edition. Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Hukal, P., Henfridsson, O., Shaikh, M., & Parker, G. (2020). Platform Signaling for Generating Platform Content. MIS Quarterly, 44(3), 1177–1205. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2020/15190

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Barykin, S. Y., Kapustina, I. V., Kirillova, T. V., Yadykin, V. K., & Konnikov, Y. A. (2020). Economics of Digital Ecosystems. Journal of Open Innovation, 68(4), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc6040124
• Cao, Z., & Shi, X. (2021). A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial ecosystems in advanced and emerging economies. Small Business Economics, 57(1), 75–110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00326-y
• Demil, B., Lecocq, X., & Warnier, V. (2018). “Business model thinking”, business ecosystems and platforms: the new perspective on the environment of the organization. M@n@gement, 21(4), 1213–1228. https://doi.org/10.3917/mana.214.1213
• Kretschmer, T., Leiponen, A., Schilling, M., & Vasudeva, G. (2020). Platform ecosystems as meta‐organizations: Implications for platform strategies. Strategic Management Journal ; ISSN 0143-2095 1097-0266. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3250
• Omar Valdez-de-Leon. (2019). How to Develop a Digital Ecosystem: a Practical Framework. Technology Innovation Management Review, (8), 43. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1260