Course Outline
Course Number MG-GY 8683
Economics & Strategies for Digital Platforms
Fall 2025, 9/4/2025 – 12/11/2025
Course Meetings: Thursdays, 6-8.30pm, online via Zoom
Course Scope and Mission
The goal of this course is to equip students with the economic tools and strategic thinking necessary to understand how platform. markets function and how to carefully analyze, evaluate and develop strategies for digital platforms. Many companies are pursuing digital strategies, from a multitude of startups to major players including Google, Amazon, and Meta.
This course will cover topics that help inform. platform. strategy, such as two-sided markets, first mover advantage, network effects, chicken-or-egg dilemma, monetization strategy, freemium, intellectual property rights, crowdsourcing, platform. governance, regulation, societal aspects of platforms, how platforms change competition, and why platforms fail. We will apply economic and strategic thinking to the study of business cases of different platforms.
The course will be delivered synchronously online and will have a flipped classroom model, with a blend of prerecorded lectures and live classroom discussion and case work.
Book (recommended)
Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary. Platform. Revolution. 2016. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Evaluation and Grades
Grades are a measure of the performance of a student in individual courses. Students will be evaluated on the basis of how well they command the course materials.
i. Participation/Group Platform. Exercise 10% Ongoing
ii. Case Questions Write-ups 10% Ongoing
iii. Quiz 1 (Individual) 20% Oct. 9
iv. Quiz 2 (Individual) 20% Nov. 13
v. Group Platform. Exercise Presentation & Paper 40% Dec. 18 (Pres. Dec. 11)
Grade Conversion
A: 94 – 100 A-: 90 – 93 B+: 87 – 89 B: 84 – 86 B-: 80 – 83 C+: 77 – 79
C: 74 – 76 C-: 70 – 73 D+: 67 – 69 D: 65 – 66 F: Below 65
COURSE FORMAT AND EXPECTATIONS
i. Class Participation/Group Platform. Exercise (10%)
One of the primary goals of this course is to help you develop the ability both to clarify your own position on a strategic question related to digital platforms and to be able to articulate and defend it clearly. As this class is highly interactive, regular class attendance and class participation are a critical part of this course. Class contribution is based on attendance and participation in the weekly group platform. exercises.
Each class, we will be doing a group exercise, where we apply the concepts learned in the lectures that week to the development of a platform. business model. At the start of the course, I will ask you to form. groups (~5 students) and come up with an idea for a platform. Each class we will apply new concepts to your platform. By the end of the course, you should have a well-developed platform. business plan.
ii. Case Question Write-Ups (10%)
For each class that has a case, I will provide an overview and background of the case, and pose some questions that are relevant to the theme of that week’s topic. You are asked to form. groups (~5 students) and work on the questions, writing up in sentence form. answers to each question. I will ask each group to email me the write-ups (one per group) and we will then reconvene as a class and have a group discussion about each case question. Case writeups will receive 1 or 0, based on completion.
With cases, you should be able to identify the key issues, problems, and opportunities facing the platform, to articulate and evaluate alternative approaches to the problems, and to describe the course of action that you recommend and reasons for your recommendations.
iii. Quiz 1 (20%) A one-hour quiz on October 9, 6-7pm that will cover material from Classes 1–5.
iv. Quiz 2 (20%) A one-hour quiz on November 13, 6-7pm that will cover material from Classes 7–10.
v. Group Platform. Exercise: Presentation & Paper (40%) Throughout the semester, you’ll be working weekly in groups to develop your platforms. For the final group assignment, due on December 18, you’re asked to write a paper of up to 1,500 words (due December 18) and do a presentation on December 11.
This assignment consists of two parts. The first part is a 10 minute in-class “pitch deck”-style. presentation consisting of 10 slides (below) on December 11 (5%). This should be a concise presentation that provides an overview of your platform’s business plan. Your 10 slides should address the following:
Pitch Deck – Key Components:
1. Introduction: Briefly introduce the platform, its name, and a one-liner that captures its essence (e.g., “A marketplace connecting freelancers with businesses.”)
2. Problem: Define the problem that exists in the market that your platform. is designed to solve.
3. Solution: Describe how your platform. solves this problem, including the key features and functionalities that enable users to connect, transact, or interact more efficiently.
4. Chicken or Egg Dilemma & Network Effects: How will your platform. solve the chicken or egg dilemma? How will it achieve positive network effects to create value?
5. Monetization Strategy: Describe how your platform. makes money.
6. Competitive Landscape: Discuss existing competitors (comparing, e.g., monetization strategy, number of users, etc.), and emphasize your unique value proposition and differentiation strategy.
7. Intellectual Property: How will you approach intellectual property?
8. Governance: How will you create and sustain good governance on your platform?
9. Regulation: What regulatory issues might your platform. raise, and how will you mitigate them?
10. Conclusion: End with a strong conclusion that reinforces the platform’s potential, the impact it could have, and your vision for the future.
The second part is a paper, due December 18 (35%), that goes into more detail on the questions underlying the presentation.