The Platform Paradox: How Digital Businesses Succeed in an Ever-Changing Global Marketplace

by Mauro F. Guillén

Digital platforms are changing the rules of competition in the global economy. Until recently, it took Fortune 500 companies an average of 20 years to reach billion-dollar market valuations. Successful platforms now reach that milestone in an average of four years.

In The Platform Paradox: How Digital Businesses Succeed in an Ever-Changing Global Marketplace, Wharton professor Mauro F. Guillén highlights a key incongruity in this new world. Most platforms considered to be successful have triumphed in only some, rather than all, parts of the world. There are very few truly global digital platforms.

In more than three decades of studying multinational firms, Guillén has found they often misunderstand key aspects of what it takes to succeed globally, from culture and institutions to local competitive dynamics and pursuing markets in a logical sequence. Seeing multibillion-dollar companies like Amazon flounder in certain markets has led Guillén to research what it takes to create a successful global strategy.

In The Platform Paradox, Guillén details:
How the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization and forced companies like Airbnb to pivot and adapt;
How platforms like Tinder and Uber have used local advantages to grow rapidly in different countries;
How traditional companies have transformed themselves into digital platforms, like Lego undertaking a digital revolution to emerge from bankruptcy and become the “Apple of toys”; and
The possibilities and limits to global expansion, as illustrated by companies like Zoom and Skype.
In The Platform Paradox, Guillén offers an integrated framework for these platforms to identify and implement a digital platform strategy on a truly global scale.

Genres: Nonfiction

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 11, 2021

About the author

Mauro F. Guillén is director of the Lauder Institute and the Dr. Felix Zandman Professor of International Management and Sociology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Limits of Convergence: Globalization and Organizational Change in Argentina, South Korea, and Spain (Princeton), The Rise of Spanish Multinationals, and the coauthor of Building a Global Bank (Princeton).

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

This book examines how various net companies, like Amazon become successful, and how that success varies from country to country. It also examines how these companies maintain their success (or not) as technology advances.

Informative.

[کافه ادبیات · Rating 3 out of 5]

تا زمانی نه چندان دور بطور متوسط ۲۰ سال طول می‌کشید تا شرکت‌های فورچون ۵۰۰ به ارزشی معادل یک میلیارد دلار برسند؛ در حالی که این عدد در حال حاضر برای پلتفرم‌های موفق حدود ۴ سال است. گیلن در کتاب پارادوکس پلتفرم توضیح می‌دهد که چگونه اتفاقاتی مثل همه‌گیری کووید-۱۹ با سوق دادن بسیاری از کسب‌وکارهای سنتی به سمت پلتفرم‌های دیجیتال روند دیجیتالی شدن را تسریع کرده است.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Platform Paradox provides practical insights and strategies that are easy to understand and apply in real-world situations. It's a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their skills and approach to business challenges.

[Vibhor Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent updated work on the topic but not the best one to start with.
Concise and to the point, but maybe it could have been structured better.

[Sanford Chee]

Wharton interview by Peter Fader w/ Mauro Guillen
https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/u...