Three Essays on Platform Strategy and Growth

Abstract

This dissertation examines platform strategy and growth. It consists of three chapters that shed light on a relatively novel phenomenon – i.e., strategic partnerships of a platform. Chapter 1 builds an integrative literature review on platform strategy to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of literature in various fields. Chapters 2 and 3 are empirical studies that use a novel, hand-collected sample of 32 equity crowdfunding platforms across Europe. Specifically, Chapter 2 investigates how and when the resources that a platform provides to its complementors through external partners can affect the growth of the platform. We find that there are strategic tradeoffs to platform growth through partnerships. While partnerships may increase the number of complementors entering the platform, the average size of such complementors is smaller. Chapter 3 studies how platform competition affects the strategy of a platform to engage in partnerships. We find that, after an increase in competition, only platforms with high market share and high levels of distinctiveness engage in partnerships. The studies offer several implications for platform managers, complementors, and regulators and provide directions for future research.