Platforms: Marketplaces and Digitization

Through a combination of videos, quizzes, experiments, and guest lectures, you will learn the following:

1. What makes platforms different than traditional businesses: the study of networks effects and how they fundamentally change how customer acquisition works.
2. Practical tips on how to build marketplaces well: by learning from industry experts and case studies, you will be able to spot what types marketplaces will die and which will thrive.
3. Basics on matching theory and what makes matching markets different than traditional market: expand your knowledge on the fundamentals of economics, markets, by exploring different types of markets and how the dynamics will differ accordingly.
4. Auction theory: you will learn what an auction is, how to design one, and how to compete in one to achieve your objectives.
5. The best way to decide who gets what and why: we will explore negotiations versus auctions in an attempt to figure out what’s the most efficient way to allocate resources.
6. Strategic thinking in the presence of limited or incomplete information:
   through the lens of game theory, a Nobel Prize-winning theory of studying strategic interactions between different parties, you will learn how to best anticipate the moves of your competitors in order to formulate your best response to them.

At the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Outline and understand the fundamental characteristics surrounding platform businesses and businesses with network effects.
• Explain the nature of competition amongst businesses and develop strategic thinking by utilizing game theoretic models.
• Master the knowledge of auctions, specifically on how to optimize actions within one and how to create one as a designer.

1. Business leaders and executives seeking to understand platform and auction theory and more advance economics topics such as game theory and strategy.
2. Entrepreneurs people in business who want to understand how to build marketplaces.
3. Regulators interested in understanding how platforms are distinct from traditional businesses and how to best govern them.
4. Individuals interested in understanding the evolving business landscape of platforms and how it has changed, and will continue changing, the way we interact with businesses.
5. Business strategists looking to drive innovation and competitive advantage through a deeper understanding of economics.

Basic understanding of supply and demand would be nice to have but is not compulsory.