Arthur Hanson
Well-known member
The platform other things are built on has become the dominate business model for its ability to spread cost dramatically. Each of these companies isn't about products so much as they are about the platform they have built that others have found the most cost and time effective to use. The Platform is the new business model where it gathers strength from those that use it and more that use it, the stronger it gets. This allows ever growing economies of scale and expertise and these are already or becoming global giants. They are about ecosystems more than any individual product and the ecosystem is literally part of the product itself. This is the new business model and we will be seeing a dramatic shift in our economy as platforms become the dominant factor. This is a new stage of economics that is tech taking the old economy in new directions. It also involves the snow ball effect in which the companies get bigger and the progress picks up speed at an ever accelerating rate. This is all part of the "Great Acceleration". We will see the platform model dominate section after section of the economy. Medical and education are the next areas that are ripe for someone to bring the platform model to. The only reason the platform model isn't expanding even faster is expanding and covering a broader area is government regulation that the old established interests use to defend older, inefficient and wasteful business models. Government itself should look should become more a platform itself instead of promoting inefficiency and waste. Uber, Lyft, AirBnB are just a few of the up and coming platforms. Thoughts, comments and observations solicited and welcome.
This platform factor is giving both consumers and companies less choice as there will be fewer and fewer viable options. This will force both consumers and companies to consider new viable options for new ways of doing everything which should encourage innovation on other layers where the Platforms don't dominate. There is still large opportunities to expand the platform model to areas it doesn't exist yet. This will require a much higher speed of innovation and implementation to become Platforms themselves. This is the new world economic model. If something isn't a platform it's either an opportunity or obsolete.
One problem with this is that these firms are acquiring the best talent giving them an unmatched growing pool of talent that enables them to not only stay on top, but increase their monopoly power. Google, Facebook and Amazon all control near seventy plus percent of the advertising revenue in their respective areas giving them such a lead as to keep newer innovative players out. This has lead to a concentration on talent for these platforms around the world that is unprecedented and we have yet to see what the end game will bring. Will they become the target of trust busting like Standard Oil in the last century?
This platform factor is giving both consumers and companies less choice as there will be fewer and fewer viable options. This will force both consumers and companies to consider new viable options for new ways of doing everything which should encourage innovation on other layers where the Platforms don't dominate. There is still large opportunities to expand the platform model to areas it doesn't exist yet. This will require a much higher speed of innovation and implementation to become Platforms themselves. This is the new world economic model. If something isn't a platform it's either an opportunity or obsolete.
One problem with this is that these firms are acquiring the best talent giving them an unmatched growing pool of talent that enables them to not only stay on top, but increase their monopoly power. Google, Facebook and Amazon all control near seventy plus percent of the advertising revenue in their respective areas giving them such a lead as to keep newer innovative players out. This has lead to a concentration on talent for these platforms around the world that is unprecedented and we have yet to see what the end game will bring. Will they become the target of trust busting like Standard Oil in the last century?
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