Over the last two decades, platforms have transformed the way, we search for information (e.g., Google), buy goods (e.g., Amazon), consume news and media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) and travel and move around (e.g., Airbnb, Bookings.com, Uber and TripAdvisor). Consequently, it is one of the most discussed tech and management literature topics. In this heterogeneous landscape, various definitions and perceptions emerged. The most accepted distinction was presented by Cusumano and colleagues in 2019, showing the difference between innovation platforms (i.e., the operating system) and transaction platforms (i.e., credit cards), which represents the archetypes upon which multi-sided platforms (i.e., transactional two-sided platforms, the orthogonal client as a target and client as a source two-sided platforms) are built on. The growing relevance of the metaverse in the last years represents and intriguing opportunity for research at the intersection between innovation and transactional platforms. Indeed, the metaverse, as defined by Bell (2022), seems to have all the necessary characteristics to be defined and innovation platforms, leaving space to other players to complement the innovation by adding applications and services that enhance the value of the platform. Therefore, this study aims to explore the following question: how do different platform typologies co-exist in the metaverse? To answer this research question, we created a sample of 182 start-ups based on Crunchbase search, to develop a multiple case study to explore how newborn companies are approaching the metaverse from a platform perspective. From a theoretical perspective, this research can enhance the knowledge on the blurred lines between innovation and transaction platforms, showing how they can co-exist even outside the operating system models where they have usually been found together.
New frontiers of Platform Thinking in the Metaverse: the blurred line between innovation and transactional platforms
D Trabucchi;T Buganza
2023-01-01
Abstract
Over the last two decades, platforms have transformed the way, we search for information (e.g., Google), buy goods (e.g., Amazon), consume news and media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) and travel and move around (e.g., Airbnb, Bookings.com, Uber and TripAdvisor). Consequently, it is one of the most discussed tech and management literature topics. In this heterogeneous landscape, various definitions and perceptions emerged. The most accepted distinction was presented by Cusumano and colleagues in 2019, showing the difference between innovation platforms (i.e., the operating system) and transaction platforms (i.e., credit cards), which represents the archetypes upon which multi-sided platforms (i.e., transactional two-sided platforms, the orthogonal client as a target and client as a source two-sided platforms) are built on. The growing relevance of the metaverse in the last years represents and intriguing opportunity for research at the intersection between innovation and transactional platforms. Indeed, the metaverse, as defined by Bell (2022), seems to have all the necessary characteristics to be defined and innovation platforms, leaving space to other players to complement the innovation by adding applications and services that enhance the value of the platform. Therefore, this study aims to explore the following question: how do different platform typologies co-exist in the metaverse? To answer this research question, we created a sample of 182 start-ups based on Crunchbase search, to develop a multiple case study to explore how newborn companies are approaching the metaverse from a platform perspective. From a theoretical perspective, this research can enhance the knowledge on the blurred lines between innovation and transaction platforms, showing how they can co-exist even outside the operating system models where they have usually been found together.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
