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Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators

Kevin Boudreau
London Business School

Andrei Hagiu
Harvard Business School - Strategy Unit


September 18, 2008


Abstract:     
This paper provides a basic conceptual framework for interpreting non-price instruments used by multi-sided platforms (MSPs) by analogizing MSPs as "private regulators" who regulate access to and interactions around the platform. We present evidence on Facebook, TopCoder, Roppongi Hills and Harvard Business School to document the "regulatory" role played by MSPs. We find MSPs use nuanced combinations of legal, technological, informational and other instruments (including price-setting) to implement desired outcomes. Non-price instruments were very much at the core of MSP strategies.

Keywords: Platforms, regulation, network effects, distributed innovation

JEL Classifications: K2, L1, L2, L4, O3

Working Paper Series

Date posted: September 18, 2008 ; Last revised: September 18, 2008

Suggested Citation

Boudreau, Kevin and Hagiu, Andrei, Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators (September 18, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1269966


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Contact Information

Kevin Boudreau (Contact Author)
London Business School ( email )
Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London NW1 4SA, London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom
Andrei Hagiu
Harvard Business School - Strategy Unit ( email )
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02163
United States
617-496-6745 (Phone)
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References: 57
Citations: 3

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