Platform business models are not organized as traditional linear pipeline business models.

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Platform business models create value through the exchange of services or content between two groups, producers and consumers. The exchange is enabled by a panoply of technologies, from cloud computing to data analytics, and in most companies with such platform business models, users are able to both offer and receive a product or service. Uber, YouTube, and Airbnb are some of the companies that have found success using these exchange-type platform business models.

At the recent MIT Platform Strategy Summit, Sangeet Paul Choudary, founder of the think tank Platformation Labs, was asked to describe the platform business model and how it differs from the traditional pipe business model. Read on to learn the core differences between the two, and how platform business models operate.

What is a platform business model and how is it different from a traditional pipe model?

[Platform business models] enable plug-and-play infrastructure into which producers and consumers can directly plug in, and they then govern the market interactions that ensue on top of the infrastructure.

Sangeet Paul Choudary: When I first thought about the platform business model, I wanted to illustrate how significant the shift is from traditional business models. So to illustrate that, I used the metaphor of a pipeline. The traditional pipeline business model is one in which the flow of value is linear from a producer to a consumer, and that's the model that we've seen in the industrial era where manufacturing, media, services, everything has followed a pipeline business model. What we've seen today in an age of connectivity and in an age of data and intelligence is that we're seeing vast amounts of network flows of value.

  So you look at a hotel. It has a pipeline flow of value, but if you look at Airbnb, it has a network flow of value, hosts and guests interacting with each other. And platforms are the plug-and-play infrastructure that enable and harness this network flow of value. Platforms specifically perform two key roles. They enable plug-and-play infrastructure into which producers and consumers can directly plug in, and they then govern the market interactions that ensue on top of the infrastructure. And that's fundamentally what makes a platform business model very different from a pipeline business model.

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HWA business model in which companies can obtain a large part of their revenues by selling a smallnumber of units from among almost unlimited choice is referred to as the long tail.A firm that successfully leverages network effects can ___. push its industry into the growthstage

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Benny's Baos had an edge in the market, but other companies began to enter the market. Bennyis now losing customers even though he has launched an aggressive marketing campaign in anattempt to attract customers. Benny's Baos is likely in the ______ stage of the industry life cycle.

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During the decline stage of the industry life cycle, product innovation efforts ______. come to ahalt

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In the ______ stage of the industry life cycle, a few number of large firms compete for a share of

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In the ______ stage of the industry life cycle, falling demand leads to a reduction in market size.

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In which stage of the industry life cycle does competition become more intense, forcing weaker

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In which stage of the industry life cycle does competition become more intense, forcing weaker

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Increases in the value of a product or service that result from a corresponding increase in the

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Which of the following are advantages of platform business compared to pipeline businesses?

What are the advantages of platform businesses compared to pipeline businesses? they scale more efficiently by removing gatekeepers and they unlock new sources of value creation and supply.

Which of the following statements about platform business is true quizlet?

Which of the following statements about platform business is true? It creates value not only for the businesses but also for consumers.

In which stage of the industry life cycle does competition become more intense forcing weaker firms out of the industry?

The decline phase marks the end of an industry's ability to support growth. Obsolescence and evolving end markets negatively impact demand, leading to declining revenues. This creates margin pressure, forcing weaker competitors out of the industry.

Which of the following lists the stages of the industry life cycle in the correct order?

An industry life cycle typically consists of five stages — startup, growth, shakeout, maturity, and decline.