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Abstract
The terms decentralized organization and distributed organization are often used interchangeably, despite describing two distinct phenomena. I propose distinguishing decentralization, as the dispersion of organizational communications, from distribution, as the dispersion of organizational decision-making. Organizations can be distributed without being decentralized (and vice versa), and having multiple management layers directly affects only distribution – not decentralization. This proposed distinction has implications for understanding the growth of digital platforms (e.g. amazon.com), which dominate the global economy in the 21st century. While prominent platforms typically use machine learning as their core technology to transform inputs (e.g. data) into outputs (e.g. matchmaking...

In 2020, the research team around Liz, Sloan, and Deloitte focused on opportunity marketplaces: internal platforms that help organizations develop, engage and retain talent. In 2021, the team published on workforce ecosystems: structures that consist of interdependent actors, from within the organization and beyond, working to pursue both individual and collective goals. In 2022, the team further explores how management practices must evolve to oversee a workforce comprised of a varied set of actors.

Abstract from the paper we discuss during the episode:

When platform leaders change the rules guiding who can access and control a platform, the strategies of those who create value from the platform can be upended. Little research examines how platform participants adapt their strategies when a platform leader changes the rules governing access and control. We trace how participation with a development platform evolved under four different governance modes with varied access and control conditions. Participation intensity increased as access opened but decreased when platform leadership became unclear. Distributed platform leadership emerged only once the platform was collectively governed....

Abstract from the paper we discuss with the author during the episode:

A major result in the study of two-sided platforms is the strategic interdependence between the two sides of the same platform, leading to the implication that a platform can maximize its total profits by subsidizing one of its sides. We show that this result largely depends on assuming that at least one side of the market single-homes. As technology makes joining multiple platforms easier, we increasingly observe that participants on both sides of two-sided platforms multihome. The case of multihoming on both sides is mostly ignored in the...

Abstract from the book we discuss with the author during the episode:

The rise of the platform economy into statelike dominance over the lives of entrepreneurs, users, and workers.

The early Internet was a lawless place, populated by scam artists who made buying or selling anything online risky business. Then Amazon, eBay, Upwork, and Apple established secure digital platforms for selling physical goods, crowdsourcing labor, and downloading apps. These tech giants have gone on to rule the Internet like autocrats. How did this happen? How did users and workers become the hapless subjects of online economic empires? The Internet was...

Closing episode for the first season of the TaP podcast. We cover a broad range of topics, starting at the gap between academic research and the diffusion of knowledge into practice, what skills a platform professional needs, and how this might or might not change when it comes to Web3.

Abstract from the paper we discuss with the author during the episode:

As a platform improves trust between the two sides of its market to facilitate matching and transactions, it faces an increased risk of disintermediation: with sufficient trust, the two sides may circumvent the platform to avoid the platform’s fees. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between increased trust and disintermediation by leveraging a randomized control trial in an online freelance marketplace. We find that enhanced trust increases the likelihood of high-quality freelancers being hired. However, when the trust level is sufficiently high, it also increases disintermediation, which...

Abstract from the paper we discuss with the author during the episode:

Digital platforms have disrupted many sectors but have not yet visibly transformed highly regulated industries. This study of Big Tech entry in healthcare and education explores how platforms have begun to enter highly regulated industries systematically and effectively. We present a 4-stage process model of platform entry, which we term as “digital colonization”: (1) provision of data infrastructure services to regulated incumbents; (2) data capture in the highly regulated industry; (3) provision of data-driven insights; (4) design and commercialization of new products and services. We clarify platforms’ sources...

Abstract from the paper we discuss with the author during the episode:

The importance of platform‐based businesses in the modern economy is growing continuously and becoming increasingly relevant. Specifically, the deployment of digital technologies has enhanced the applicability of two‐sided business models, enabling companies to act not just as builders and owners of assets, but as orchestrators of external resources. Management research has therefore focused increasingly on the unique aspects of this model. At the center of a two‐sided platform there is a platform provider that enables a transaction between the sides, reducing the relative transaction costs. However, in recent...

Abstract from the paper we discuss with the author during the episode:

Online platforms are pervasive and powerful in today's economy. We explore the increased centrality of platforms in two ways. First, we measure the extent to which platforms are insinuating themselves into the economy. We accomplish this by analyzing the presence of platforms as intermediating organizations across all US service industries at the six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code level. Our results show that 70% of service industries, representing over 5.2 million establishments, are potentially affected by one or more platforms. Second, we undertake a detailed firm-level...