Graduate Prerequisites: QST PL727 or PL730, QST SI750 or SI751, or permission of instructor - To thrive in the modern economy, managers, entrepreneurs and investors need a thorough understanding of platform businesses. Indeed, today's most powerful and valuable firms, from Airbnb, to Amazon, Facebook and Salesforce, operate as platforms connecting buyers and sellers, or users and advertisers, or users and third-party developers. These platforms derive their value from network effects and the ability to harness innovation from their users. Drawing on cases from social media, entrepreneurship, enterprise software, mobile services, and consumer products, we will analyze and learn to launch platform startups, convert existing businesses into platforms, and compete in a platform-centric world. Students will learn to apply concepts from industrial economics, market design, and game theory to real problems.

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