Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators

Kevin Boudreau and Andrei Hagiu ()
Additional contact information
Andrei Hagiu: Harvard Business School, Strategy Unit

No 09-061, Harvard Business School Working Papers from Harvard Business School

Abstract: This paper provides a basic conceptual framework for interpreting non-price instruments used by multi-sided platforms (MSPs) by analogizing MSPs as "private regulators" who regulate access to and interactions around the platform. We present evidence on Facebook, TopCoder, Roppongi Hills and Harvard Business School to document the "regulatory" role played by MSPs. We find MSPs use nuanced combinations of legal, technological, informational and other instruments (including price-setting) to implement desired outcomes. Non-price instruments were very much at the core of MSP strategies.

Keywords: Platforms; regulation; network effects; distributed innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic and nep-net
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-061.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-061

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