Classroom Companion: Business

Further Reading
Dorogovtsev, S. N., & Mendes, J. F. F. (2003). Evolution of networks: From biological nets to the 
internet and WWW. Oxford University Press.
References

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© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 
Switzerland AG 2021
H. Øverby, J. A. Audestad, Introduction to Digital Economics, 
Classroom Companion: Business,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78237-5_10
149
Multisided 
Platforms
Contents
10.1 
 Introduction – 150
10.2 
 Characteristics of Multisided 
Platforms – 151
10.2.1 
 Network Effects – 152
10.2.2 
 Pricing – 152
10.2.3 
 Competition – 152
10.2.4 
 Business Ecosystem – 153
10.2.5 
 Market Regulations – 153
10.3 
 Network Effects and MSPs – 153
10.4 
 Business Ecosystem
and MSPs – 158
10.5 
 Trade Process of MSPs 
and Resellers – 159
10.6 
 Conclusions – 161
 References – 163
10

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150
10
 
n Learning Objectives
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
5
Identify the different user groups of a multisided platform.
5
Identify the value proposition for each user group and the combined effect on the 
aggregate business offered by the platform.
5
Analyze same-side and cross-side network effects governing the evolution of the 
different services offered by the platform.
10.1 
 Introduction
In a multisided platform (MSP), two or more distinct user groups interact to pro-
duce mutual benefits for each other. In many practical cases, there are just two 
groups, in which case, the multisided platform becomes a two-sided platform. 
There is no essential difference between two-sided and multisided platforms. The 
most important difference is that the multisided platform consists of many more 
business roles and interactions between these roles. This chapter will therefore 
mainly discuss two-sided platforms, keeping in mind that the theory is valid also 
for multisided platforms. For simplicity, we will also refer to two-sided platform as 
MSP.