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Platform data strategy

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Abstract

Platforms create value by enabling interactions between consumers and external producers through infrastructures and rules. We define platform data strategy to encompass all data-related rules undertaken by platforms to foster competitive advantage over the long term. Platform firms face growing pressure to increase accountability for how they use data; yet, an explicit treatment of platforms’ data strategies and a systematic discussion of forces influencing such data-related choices are absent in the academic literature. We articulate how a platform’s data strategy varies based on platform type and business circumstances. Given the interdependencies within a platform’s ecosystem, its data strategy must balance incentives of all stakeholders. Besides discussing these topics, the paper identifies promising research opportunities in platform data strategy to better inform future academic research, strategic decision-making, and regulatory analysis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the organizers of the 11th Triennial Choice Symposium for a stimulating conference, and the special issue editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Management, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Hemant K. Bhargava, Olivier Rubel, Jörn Boehnke & Pantelis Loupos

  2. Manning School of Business, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

    Elizabeth J. Altman

  3. Facebook, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Ramnik Arora

  4. Olin Business School, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Kaitlin Daniels

  5. Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Timothy Derdenger

  6. DataStax, Santa Clara, CA, USA

    Bryan Kirschner

  7. Auth0, Bellevue, WA, USA

    Darin LaFramboise

  8. Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Geoffrey Parker

  9. Scheller College of Business, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Adithya Pattabhiramaiah

Authors
  1. Hemant K. Bhargava
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  2. Olivier Rubel
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  3. Elizabeth J. Altman
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  4. Ramnik Arora
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  5. Jörn Boehnke
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  6. Kaitlin Daniels
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  7. Timothy Derdenger
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  8. Bryan Kirschner
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  9. Darin LaFramboise
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  10. Pantelis Loupos
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  11. Geoffrey Parker
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  12. Adithya Pattabhiramaiah
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olivier Rubel.

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Bhargava, H.K., Rubel, O., Altman, E.J. et al. Platform data strategy. Mark Lett 31, 323–334 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09539-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09539-3

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