Global Logistics System Asia Co., Ltd.

Most people concur that electronic markets constitute a significant innovation that will radically alter markets in the future. However two key questions remain. Who will stand to benefit from electronic markets? How should various existing market players position themselves in regard to initiatives to establish such markets? This case discusses these two questions by studying the air cargo industry in Hong Kong, where an electronic trading network has recently been launched with considerable success. It analyzes how and why this electronic network became an instant success and it also addresses whether the network will evolve into an electronic market. Furthermore, what stakeholders are in favor of such a move and who will seek to resist it

Towards a Market Entry Framework for Digital Payment Platforms

This study presents a framework to understand and explain the design and configuration of digital payment platforms and how these platforms create conditions for market entries. By embracing the theoretical lens of platform envelopment, we employed a multiple and comparative-case study in a European setting by using our framework as an analytical lens to assess market-entry conditions. We found that digital payment platforms have acquired market entry capabilities, which is achieved through strategic platform design (i.e., platform development and service distribution) and technology design (i.e., issuing evolutionary and revolutionary payment instruments). The studied cases reveal that digital platforms leverage payment services as a mean to bridge and converge core and adjacent platform markets. In so doing, platform envelopment strengthens firms’ market position in their respective core markets. This study contributes to the extant literature on digital platforms, market entries, and payment

Introducing Platform Interactions Model for Studying Multi-Sided Platforms

Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) function as socio-technical entities that facilitate direct interactions between various affiliated to them constituencies through developing and managing IT architecture. In this paper, we aim to explain the nature of the platform interactions as key characteristic of any MSP. To this end, we propose the Platform Interaction Model (PIM), built upon Activity Theory and Business Action Theory. We then test its explanatory capability by applying it to four cases. Based on our analysis, we argue that MSPs enable various types of interactions, which has implications for the initial adoption, competitiveness, and subsequent expansion of particular MSP

AN INVESTIGATION OF DIGITAL PAYMENT PLATFORM DESIGNS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FOUR EUROPEAN SOLUTIONS

This paper focuses on the triumph march of mobile phones that currently are annexing music players, navigation devices, and cameras as separate physical objects. The next target is set on payment. Through synthesizing available literature, we construct a framework for studying digital payment platforms that combines platform, technology and business design aspects. The framework is applied to conduct a comparative case study of digital payment platforms. Four types of market actors are considered: banks, mobile network operators, merchants, and startups, which are incumbents and disrupters in the payment industry. These actors issu four types of payment systems, and we can observe that three of four platforms types can be classified as multi-sided platforms (MSP). All alternatives seek foothold by issuing evolutionary payment instruments, which are intertwined with digital payment platforms. By hosting third-party services, payment instruments are evolving from single-purpose to multi-functional ones. Our research extends existing payment literature from the MSP perspective to emphasize certain digital payment platform components, which impact strategies and complementary products

A Model of Digital Payment Infrastructure Formation and Development: The EU Regulator´s Perspective

The payment field is being rapidly transformed. New players have emerged and are threatening the well-established positions of the incumbents. This process is driven by technology change and market forces, and it is shaped by the increasing role of the regulator. When considering the change in the regulatory environment and combining it with the disruptive and innovative nature of the mobile phone, the result is a market that is rapidly transforming from well-established structure into a state of flux. We build a model to understand and explain this transformation of the digital payment infrastructure. The model captures the formation and development of the digital payment infrastructure with a particular emphasis on the regulator´s and innovator’s perspective. It consists of four stages characterized by slow incremental change which are followed by short and rapid bursts of discontinuity. Each stage is portrayed by its evolutionary dynamics, the nature of the payment platform, the legal implications, the level of competition, and what drives the discontinuity. Keywords: digital payments, multi-sided platform, EU payment regulation, digital infrastructures

A Typology of Multi-sided Platforms: The Core and the Periphery

In this paper we address how the composition of a platform impacts the platform’s business model. By platform’s business model we mean platform features, platform architecture and platform governance. To this end, we construct the Platform Business Model Framework. We apply the framework to three exemplary cases which allow us to illustrate the platform heterogeneity and to support new MSPs typology. As examples we include a physical two-sided platform (Gatwick Airport) that adds a third side, a digital one-sided platform transformed into being two-sided (Pingit) and a digital one-sided platform which evolved several steps into being multi-sided (Facebook). Our analysis shows a structural difference between one-sided, two-sided and multi-sided platforms and that platforms consist of a core and potentially also a periphery. The sides of a platform and the ties which connect them can be arranged in several configurations. The particular platform architecture can explain the difficulties in designing a viable business models for platforms

Introducing Reach And Range For Digital Payment Platforms

Numerous digital payment solutions, which rely on new disruptive technologies, have been launched on the payment market in the recent years. But despite the growing number of mobile payment apps, very few solutions turn to be successful as the majority of them fail to gain a critical mass of users. In this paper we investigate two successful digital payment solutions in order to outline some of the factors which contribute to the widespread adoption of a digital payment platform. In order to conduct our analysis we propose the Reach and Range Framework for Multi-Sided Platforms. Our study indicates that the success of digital payment platforms lies with the ability of the platform to balance the reach (number of participants) and the range (features and functionalities) of the platform