Joost Rietveld
@gjrietveld.bsky.social
UCL School of Management. Posts about technology, strategy, innovation, platforms, big tech, video games. #platformpapers
In the mature #platformeconomy, competition often comes from within. Complementors must walk a fine line if they wish to break out of Big Tech platforms and become platform competitors in their own right. This is the Complementor's Dilemma. platformpapers.substack.com/p/the-comple...
The Complementor’s Dilemma
How can challengers grow inside platform ecosystems dominated by big-tech firms?
platformpapers.substack.com
Remember when folks feared that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard would make Xbox dominant to the point where PlayStation and Nintendo would no longer be able to compete?! 👀🎮 www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-retreat...
Data can be a source of #competitiveadvantage for digital #platforms and has therefore been a key focus for regulators. Two provisions include data siloing and data sharing, but how do these restrictions affect innovation, competition, and welfare? platformpapers.substack.com/p/regulating...
Regulating Data on Digital Platforms
When it comes to innovation and welfare, sharing beats siloing.
platformpapers.substack.com
Managers and academics have long tracked unit sales as a key performance metric for video games. But in a world where games increasingly operate as services with fragmented monetization, sales no longer tell the full story. User engagement might be more meaninful. www.linkedin.com/posts/gjriet...
#platformpapers #videogames #service #engagement #subscription #xbox #gamepass #playstation | Joost Rietveld
In the latest #PlatformPapers blog, Michiel Van Crombrugge (based on joint work with Stefan Stremersch) reminds us about the importance of analyzing the 'right' performance indicators. For many year...
linkedin.com
Another great platform summit at the 4th annual #EU-DPRN conference in #Aalto. Great presentations, panels and updates on platform literature and state of the field. Thanks to Joost, Carmelo, Panos and local organizers for putting together this great event! @gjrietveld.bsky.social #eu-dprn
What happens to non-promoted items when a platform operator selectively promotes some of its items, but not others? The latest PlatformPapers post discusses this question drawing from experimental research. Promotion has positive spill over effects, but not to all. open.substack.com/pub/platform...
One Badge, Many Winners: The Spillover Effects of Platform Endorsement
Platform endorsement increases sales for endorsed items—but the bigger story is what it does for everything else.
open.substack.com
I wrote this chart-filled piece about game console price increases ~9 months ago and it is already out of date because Sony and Nintendo have increased prices again in the interim! arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/...
Today’s game consoles are historically overpriced
Ars analysis shows missing price cuts are costing console consumers hundreds of dollars.
arstechnica.com
Regulating digital #platforms to keep markets competitive is hard. There can often be unintended consequences. The latest #PlatformPapers blog documents how #China's digital platform #regulation stiffled entrepreneurial activity and capital markets. open.substack.com/pub/platform...
When Platform Antitrust Chills Entrepreneurship
Evidence from China
open.substack.com
In 2019, GrubHub added 150,000 restaurants to its food-delivery platform ... without their knowledge! The latest PlatformPapers blog asks: What Happens When Platforms Add Suppliers Who Never Signed Up? open.substack.com/pub/platform...
What Happens When Platforms Add Suppliers Who Never Signed Up?
GrubHub added 150,000 restaurants ... without their knowledge
open.substack.com
Online review platforms such as #TripAdvisor and #Yelp can help travelers avoid "tourist traps", but what is their effect on restaurant market composition and competition really? Dante Donati discusses these questions in the latest #PlatformPapers blog! open.substack.com/pub/platform...
How Review Platforms Reshape Competition
The End of Tourist Traps
open.substack.com
An oft-heard rebuttal to the dominance of #BigTech firms is that "competition is only one click away." But is competition really only one click away? Michelangelo Rossi discusses his research on Google Maps and the DMA in the latest #PlatformPapers blog. platformpapers.substack.com/p/is-competi...
Is Competition Really Only One Click Away?
What the DMA’s Google Maps experiment tells us about contestability in digital markets
platformpapers.substack.com
Food-delivery #platforms didn't 'disrupt' the #restaurant industry, but they still had a meaningful impact on market composition. In the latest #PlatformPapers blog, Manav Raj and JP Eggers explain what happens when delivery platforms come to town. platformpapers.substack.com/p/when-deliv...
When Delivery Comes to Town
How platform entry affects industry structure and competition
platformpapers.substack.com
Interested in the state of #platform competition research in 2025? Read about it in the Platform Papers 2025 Year in Review post where I discuss the how, what, where, and who of platforms research. platformpapers.substack.com/p/platform-p...
Platform Papers 2025 Year-in-Review
The state of platform competition research in 2025.
platformpapers.substack.com
Academic research has long focused on how platforms have enabled innovation & economic growth, while accumulating immense power. But what happens when that power is wielded inconsistently? Annabelle Gawer & Martin Harraca discuss in the latest #PlatformPapers blog. open.substack.com/pub/platform...
What happens to ecosystem diversity and #platform match quality after a platform introduces paid #discovery tools (e.g., Apple's search result ads)? @kai-zzzzzz.bsky.social and co-authors share insights from #Goodreads introduction of paid book giveaways. platformpapers.substack.com/p/the-price-...
The Price of Platform Participation
Goodreads’ introduction of paid giveaways reveals how charging for discovery affects ecosystem diversity and match quality.
platformpapers.substack.com
Together with Enrico and Alessandro we did a video interview with @faculti.bsky.social covering our ASQ article studying CrossFit gyms responding to a scandal involving the organization's CEO. It nicely shows our different but complementary perspectives on the study.
Faculti@faculti.bsky.social · 9mo agoHow does the social fabric of a community determine whether local businesses take a stand—or stay silent—on national controversies? @enricoforti.bsky.social, @alessandropiazza.bsky.social, @gjrietveld.bsky.social, @setonhall.bsky.social, @ucl.ac.uk discusses: faculti.net/when-communi... #economics
What happens when a star player leaves the market? In 'normal' markets you'd expect remaining firms to increase their output and sales, but not so much in platform markets. In the latest #PlatformPapers, what happened to Twitch streamers when Ninja left for Mixer? open.substack.com/pub/platform...
Star Wars
Why Ninja's sudden defection to Mixer made Twitch streamers less productive
open.substack.com
In the latest #PlatformPapers blog, @anilrdoshi.com discusses work on #blockbuster projects in the #crowdfunding industry. When a platform has a hit, it triggers additional entry. Entry rates are higher on #Indiegogo, but of higher quality on #Kickstarter. platformpapers.substack.com/p/blockbuste...
Blockbuster Projects Send Waves Hitting All Platforms
Successful crowdfunding projects spill over to competing platforms
platformpapers.substack.com
#Blockchain based initiatives (e.g. industry platforms for data sharing) are technologically #decentralized, but often they are owned and exploited by just one or a few companies. Read about this decentralization paradox in the latest #PlatformPapers blog. platformpapers.substack.com/p/the-platfo...
The Platform Governance Paradox
Why industry blockchain platforms struggle with centralization and decentralization
platformpapers.substack.com
Thousands of hotels are bringing a lawsuit against Booking.com. At the heart is Booking's "best price" clause. Such clauses can have myriad anticompetitive effects, seller collusion being one of them. Frank Schlutter explains on the #PlatformPapers blog. platformpapers.substack.com/p/the-impact...
The Impact of Platform Most-Favored Nation Clauses on Seller Competition
How platforms benefit when sellers collude on price
platformpapers.substack.com
We are hiring at Rotman Strategy in the Fall. Apply here. jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
Assistant Professor - Strategic Management
Assistant Professor - Strategic Management
jobs.utoronto.ca
🚨 Thrilled to share our #AOM2025 symposium w/ @aldona.bsky.social & Yongzhi (Alex) Wang on #competition & #regulation in #platforms. 📅 July 29th | 🕝 1:45PM–3:15PM | 📍 Bella Center More here 👉 www.linkedin.com/posts/mostaj...
🚨Free data alert!! 🚨 Please share. Large new dataset of Amazon product reviews, including full text and photos and product characteristics, with individual *reviews labeled as fake reviews*. I believe this is the first publicly available data of this kind. github.com/bretthollenb...
Platform cooperatives are trying to make the sharing economy more equitable by competing against incumbents (e.g., Airbnb, Uber) from the margin. Read about how they try to do this in the latest #PlatformPapers blog here: platformpapers.substack.com/p/platform-c...
Platform Cooperatives Driving Change from the Margins
How to make the sharing economy more equitable
platformpapers.substack.com
Digital platforms can help fill institutional voids. In the latest #PlatformPapers blog Aparajita Agarwal and Valentina Assenova discuss research showing how M-Pesa's #mobilemoney platform acts as a steppingstone to #financialinclusion for the unbanked.
Mobile Money as a Steppingstone to Financial Inclusion
How Digital Multisided Platforms Fill Institutional Voids
platformpapers.substack.com
In the latest PlatformPapers blog, Ken Wilbur and Davide Proserpio discuss why #advertising is an emergent (but understudied) property of successful digital #platforms. A recommended read! platformpapers.substack.com/p/advertisin...
Advertising is an Emergent Property of Successful Platforms
Plus a public wager
platformpapers.substack.com
Now in-press at Academy of Management Perspectives: Hypercontinuous Innovation and Demand-Side Learning: Why Digital Platforms Enjoy Longer and More Expansive Market Leadership Positions joint with Melissa Schilling. journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5...
Hypercontinuous Innovation and Demand-Side Learning: Why Digital Platforms Enjoy Longer and More Expansive Market Leadership Positions | Academy of Management Perspectives
Strategy and innovation scholars are increasingly concerned about the market power of successful digital platforms—and so are the authorities tasked with regulating the so-called Big Tech companies. T...
journals.aom.org
Abnormal performance is a normal feature of many digital platform. Read about research in the context of #Udemy by Kaushik Gala, Andreas Schwab, and Brandon Mueller in the latest #platformpapers blog. platformpapers.substack.com/p/star-entre...
Star Entrepreneurs on Digital Platforms
Abnormal performance is normal in many platforms.
platformpapers.substack.com
In the latest #PlatformPapers blog, Paul Belleflamme, Eric Toulemonde and Martin Peitz argue that using market shares to proxy market power for digital platforms is complicated for several reasons. They offer insights to regulators, investors and managers. platformpapers.substack.com/p/rethinking...
Rethinking Market Power in the Digital Platform Era
Market share isn't everything.
platformpapers.substack.com
