Platform Strategies

Exam review:

Please email Julian Kurtz if you would like to have your individual or group work reviewed. Deadline for assignment to exam review is 28 March 2024.

Important Dates Winter Term 2023/24

1) 02.10.2023, Start course entry via StudOn (first come, first served), max. 45 participant

2) 12.10.2023, End course entry

3) 13.10.2023, Start registration for the term paper topics and group work

4) 20.10.2023, End registration for the group work

5) 01.11.2024, End registration for the term paper topics

6) 08.11.2023, Submission of group work documentation (1000 words)

7) 19.01.2024, Submission of term paper (3000 words)

Subject to change without notice; Detailed information via StudOn

Semester: Winter Term 2023/24
Format: Block week in presence
Course Type: Lecture
Location:
Lecture will be held at Findelgasse 7-9, 90402 Nürnberg
Time: Blockweek:

31.10.2023, 17:00 – 20:00, FG Room 0.015

02.11.2023, 17:00 – 20:00, FG Room 0.016

03.11.2023, 17:00 – 20:00, FG Room 0.015

04.11.2023, 10:00 – 12:00, Excursion to JOSPEHS

06.11.2023, 17:00 – 20:00, FG Room 0.016

07.11.2023, 17:00 – 20:00, FG Room 0.015

Language: English
Credit points/ Contact hours: 5 ECTS
StudOn: Link
Campo: Link
Lecturer: Prof. R. Srinivasan
Teaching Assistant:
Prof. Dr. Angela Roth

Julian Kurtz

How and why does a platform like Google function so well? On the one side, you have users who search and access information for free, and on the other, you have companies who pay for ads. But how does such a complex system maintain itself and remain successful over the years?

This is the kind of questions that this course aims to answer. In academic terms, the course builds on the platform and network aspects in core strategy and aims to highlight the specific strategies for firms operating in platform-mediated-networks (PMN). Firms in platform-mediated-networks face certain challenges atypical of usual product or service firms: they operate in multi-sided markets, face network effects that allow only a few firms to exist as platform intermediaries, and traditional rules for pricing fail in such markets.

The course will be taught through a set of cases that ensures that participants appreciate the multi-dimensional nature of managing in network businesses.

The seminar is delivered by Prof. R Srinivasan who is a guest lecturer coming from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and who specialises in multi-sided platform organizations, strategy processes in rapid growth organizations, and competitive, corporate and international strategies.
Through the years Prof. Srinivasan has accumulated not only knowledge but also experience with helping platform firms set up the right business models and successful strategies.

You can visit his blog about his research, consulting and teaching interests. It provides insights about strategy in general, digital strategy, and what it means for firms, especially start-ups, and platform business models, with a focus on Indian firms.

Grading structure:

  • Project report: Students develop in teams a business plan about a platform business idea (50% of module score). Submission deadline: 08.11.2023
  • Handout: Students develop individually an essay about a platform of their choice, discuss key concepts encountered during the lectures and apply them to the chosen platform. (50% of module score). Submission deadline: 19.01.2024

Post-Exam Reviews:

For a post-exam review, please contact us within the week after the publication of the grades to arrange an appointment.