The The Platform Paradox eBook

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.

InThe Platform Paradox: How Digital Businesses Succeed in an Ever-Changing Global Marketplace, Wharton professorMauro 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.

InThe Platform Paradox, Guillén details: How the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization and forced companies likeAirbnb to pivot and adapt; How platforms likeTinder andUber have used local advantages to grow rapidly in different countries; How traditional companies have transformed themselves into digital platforms, likeLego 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 likeZoom andSkype. InThe Platform Paradox, Guillén offers an integrated framework for these platforms to identify and implement a digital platform strategy on a truly global scale.