Navigating the World of “Platforms”
“Platform” is an overly used buzzword in the past twenty years.
The original meaning of Platform is “a flat raised area or structure”, like the “platform” at the railway station where people getting on and off the train, or the “stage” where people stands to voice their opinion.
But in the past twenty years, the word of “Platform” has been infused with many different meanings for various purposes in diverse industries. From business model innovation, the entrepreneurs talk about the “Platform Businesses” to connect many providers and consumers. From IT service architecture, IT folks emphasize the service offerings as more and more “Platform Systems” emerge. In term of organizational design, many tech giants and start-ups brag about their “Platform Organizations”.
Hera are another two special variants: To the automotive “Car Guys”, the Platform is the engineering architecture where multiple vehicle models can be built up on. The latest term coined by Sangeet Paul Choudary, INSEAD Entrepreneur-in-Residence and the Founder & CEO of Platformation Labs, is County-as-a-Platform in reference to China’s global influence.
So it is important to give “Platform” the better definitions in various contexts.
- Business Model Innovation: Platform Business
