I am studying digital platforms addressing societal grand challenges with a focus on the microfinance industry. In this context, I am interested in the societal dimentions that influence interactions in the platform market.
In today’s business world, organizational structure is more important than ever. And when it comes to organizations serving needs in environments afflicted by natural disasters or wars, the stakes are even higher.
How can platforms help fight grand challenges? How should they be designed to contribute to sustainability?**
Mission-driven platforms like Amnesty International Decoder and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap are on the rise. These societal platforms address challenges such as fighting poverty, education, climate actions, and sustainable cities and communities on a large scale and at speed by orchestrating an ecosystem and creating value for the market and society.
Platform businesses connect at least two sides, e.g. a buyer and a seller of a good or service, and have grown tremendously in importance in recent years. Indeed, platform business models form the basis of many household names in social media, ridesharing, operating systems and many more.
What are the dimensions of a platform design that enables both sustainability and value generation for society and the platform’s market? Christoph Feest and I discuss this issue in this blog post.