June paper on 'Service in the Platform Context: A review of the state of the art' by Xia Han, Veronica Martinez and Andy Neely
Platform based business models, which match the needs between two or more parties, are becoming ever more important in today’s economy. Companies such as Uber and AirBnB are disrupting their industries in a dramatic way. These platforms are able to capture the positive network-based benefits generated by their participants and redistribute them back in an efficient manner. This phenomenon is of interest for both industry and academia. This assessment of the literature focuses on the service aspect of platforms. 110 peer reviewed academic articles published between 2006 and 2015 are analysed. This review highlights the prominent research directions, debates and findings in this early emergent field. By reading this paper you will learn the cutting edge research and cases used by organisations as a key reference when approaching service platforms.