This presentation discusses two databases. The first is a database of the platform scholarship from 2000 to present. The second is a global database of platform companies.

1. Peter Evans, PhD
Vice President
Center for Global Enterprise
Small n, Large n and public goods issues
Platform Strategy Research Symposium
Platform Research Agenda
1
July 14, 2016
Boston University Questrom School of Business

2. Overview
2
Discuss two database initiatives
• Platform literature database
• Global platform company database
Offer observations regarding large n data and platform scholarship
Present ideas on how to solve the public goods problem with curated datasets

3. 3
Platform Literature Database

4. Building a platform literature database
4
A total of 946 authors have contributed to building a
rich scholarly literature on platforms
These authors have produced 635 titles
Together, these titles have generated a total of
129,265 citations
Key database fields
Author(s)
Publication Type- book, book chapter, journal, working paper
Publication Title
Publication Name
Number of Citations
Citation- volume, number, pages
Year Published
Article Link
Link to Citations
Link to Article pdf
Article Source
Abstract Excerpt
Developed a curated data base covering 2000-
2014, with citations captured through a fetch tool
deployed on Google Scholar
Approach
Top level results

5. Database contents
5
Average annual journal articles
10317 23286
Working papersJournal articles Book chapters Books
Source: P. Evans, Platform Literature Database, 2016

6. Citations by publication
6
Rochet and Tirole,
“Platform Competition in
Two-Sided Markets,”
2003
Source: P. Evans, Platform Literature Database, 2016

7. 7
Platform Author
Clusters
Source: Peter Evans, Platform Literature Database, CGE, 2016,
with visualization enabled by the team at Quid.
Rochet, Jean-Charles

8. High level observations
8
Productive: Run rate of over 40 publications + growing number of books per year
Collaborative: Most publications are co-authored
Geographic scope: US centric
Methodology: Small n (n = number of companies studied)
Productivity
Cost of production: $25 million – excluding books
Scope
Gaps
Disciples: Economics, Management, Industrial Organization, Information Systems, Political Science
Globalization of platforms, rise of multinational
Platform consolidation; large multi platform companies
Large n (n = number of companies studied)

9. 9
Global Platform Survey

10. Global platform survey project
10
Quid Web
Intelligence tool
Expert curation
Primary data reference tools
Cross referenced with the publically
available list of unicorn companies
maintained by CB Insights
Data for the publically traded
platform companies
was obtained through
CrunchBase was used to surface
platform companies and to cross
check data from other sources

11. Data base has enabled two publications to date
11
http://thecge.net/categor
y/research/the-emerging-
platform-economy/
Available at:

12. Public vs. privately held platforms
12
Source: P. Evans, Global Platform Database, Center for Global Enterprise, 2016
*Platform companies with a market value of US$1 billion or more on December 15, 2015
$3 trillion + in firm market cap
$100s of billions + in global commerce
1.5 million direct jobs + millions more indirect jobs
Identified a total of 176 platforms with market caps of $1 billion or more

13. Platform database
13
Publically traded companies with market cap of $10 billion or more

14. Top platform sectors
14
No. of Platforms
SectorsRank
Sector coding is challenging, requiring deep knowledge of sector and company

15. Africa’s Emerging Platform Clusters
15
SOURCE: Africa Platform database, 2016
Industry Examples
Agriculture Esoko, iCow, hellotractor
Education BrainShare, JobbermanLearning, Obami
Real Estate Lamudi, Private Property, Sweepsouth
Market place Jumia, Konga, Kaymu, Carmudi, OLX, Cheki,
cdiscount, Zando, Vendito
Transportation Uber, EasyTaxi, GoMyWay, Snappcab, Tranzit
Workplace Jobberman, BrighterMonday, Everjobs
Food delivery Hellofood, EasyAppetite
Travel Jovago, hotels.ng, SafariNow, Wakanow
Money M-Pesa, Paga, Kopo Kopo, Jumpstart Africa
Gaming Chesscube, ChopUp, Kiro’s Games
Social Networking Evly, Eskimi
Media IrokoTV, MobileFliks, SaniFilms, Real Nolly
Health Truppr
Platform based business models are being tested in frontier markets

16. Global landscape—innovation hubs
16
Source: P. Evans, Global Platform Survey Database, CGE, 2016.

17. Who profits from platforms?
17
Gross profits of top 50 public platforms, 2012 Q3 -2016 Q2
Americas
Asia
Europe

18. Profits and national systems of innovation
18
Source: Investments extracted from Crunchbase, 2015
Funding Round Type
Sample of 275 companies that have
received funding from Google, Google
Ventures or Google Capital, 2005-2014
Capital accumulation is driving diverse pattern of technology investment, 2005-2014
Google’s
investment
clusters

19. 19
Data Collection and Management

20. Models for global data collection
20
The Correlates of War Project was founded in 1963 by J. David
Singer, a political scientist at the University of Michigan. The
original and continuing goal of the project has been the systematic
accumulation of scientific knowledge about war. Joined by historian
Melvin Small, the project began its work by assembling a more
accurate data set on the incidence and extent of inter-state and
extra-systemic war in the post-Napoleonic period. To do this
scientifically Singer and Small found they needed to operationally
resolve a number of difficult issues such as what is a “state” and
what precisely is a “war.”
Source: http://www.correlatesofwar.org/history
1963
History
Penn State
1998 20161972
U of Michigan
Zeev Maoz
J. David Singer
Stuart A. Bremer
D. Scott Bennett
Paul F. Diehl
Correlates of War Project offers an example of one successful project

21. Correlates of War governance
21
Data Topics and Hosts
Alliances (Formal) - Doug Gibler, University of Alabama
Contiguity (Direct & Colonial) - Paul Hensel, University of North Texas
Cultural - Errol Henderson, Penn State University; Zeev Maoz, UC-Davis
Diplomatic - Resat Bayer, Koc University
IGOs - Tim Nordstrom, University of Mississippi; Jon Pevehouse, University of Wisconsin; Meg
Shannon, University of Colorado
Intrastate War - Jeff Dixon, Texas A&M-Central Texas; Meredith Sarkees, Global Women's Leadership
in International Security (GWLIS)
Interstate & Extrastate War - Meredith Sarkees, GWLIS; Frank Wayman, University of Michigan-
Dearborn
MIDs - Glenn Palmer, Penn State University
MIDs Location - Alex Bratihwaite, University of Arizona
National Material Capabilities - Michael Greig and Andrew Enterline, University of North Texas
System Membership - Volker Krause, Eastern Michigan U.; Phil Schafer, University of Michigan
Territorial Change - Paul Diehl, University of Illinois
Trade - Katherine Barbieri, University of South Carolina; Omar Keshk, The Ohio State University
Director
Zeev Maoz, University of California, Davis
Associate Director
D. Scott Bennett, Pennsylvania State University
Distributed system of data set hosting based on the notion of “coordinated decentralization”
Member Advisory Board & Term
Patricia Sullivan, University of North Carolina, through April 2016
Paul Hensel, University of North Texas, through April 2016
Brett Ashley Leeds, Rice University, through April 2017
Resat Bayer, Koc University, though April 2017
Jessica Weeks, University of Wisconsin, through April 2018
Alex Braithwaite, University of Arizona, through April 2018
Michaela Mattes, University of California-Berkeley, through April 2018
Will Moore, Florida State University, through April 2018
Megan Shannon, University of Colorado-Boulder, through April 2018
Source: http://www.correlatesofwar.org/history

22. 22
Platforms and Data

23. Building and improving existing data sets
23
Parting thoughts
Literature database
Benefits
Provide a single, high quality data source for
researchers, professionals and graduate students
Reveal gaps in existing research
Point to new productive areas for platform research
Challenges
Determining the boundaries of the “platform”
literature- What’s in? What’s out?
Overcoming collective action/ free rider problem
associated with maintaining the database
Global Company Database
Benefits
Provide a single, high quality global data base to support
a wide range of platform research themes
Fill gaps in existing research related to platform
globalization, national systems of innovation etc.
Challenges
Determining and keeping track of which companies belong
in the database.
Overcoming collective action/ free rider problem associated
with maintaining and/or expanding the database

24. 24
Follow me on Twitter @pevans_c

25. Peter Evans, PhD
Vice President
Center for Global Enterprise
Small n, Large n and public goods issues
Platform Strategy Research Symposium
Platform Research Agenda
25
July 14, 2016
Boston University Questrom School of Business