MIT Digital Fellow and Boston University Professor Van Alstyne argues that product business models are broken and being replaced by platforms. Out of InterBrand’s Top 30 “Best Global Brands” of 2013, about a third of the companies have their own ecosystems, including Apple, Google, and Amazon. Products have features, but platforms have communities. How does that impact business model? Listen in and find out from case studies from Nike, Google, Apple, Amazon, Uber, Facebook, and more.
Professor Van Alstyne is a Professor at Boston University, a Digital Fellow at MIT and the co-author of Platform Revolution. His work concerns information economics, competitive strategy and network effects, as well as who has access to what information, when, and at what price. His work has received an NSF Career Award, two best paper awards, and has appeared in Science, Management Science, Harvard Business Review, and the popular press. He received a BA from Yale, and MS & PhD degrees from MIT.