An Empirical Investigation of Platform Firms’ Business and Revenue Models

The purpose of this study is to explore a new perspective of how emerging platform firms from different industries innovate their business and revenue models for competitive advantage, operational efficiency, and financial performance. The case study approach is employed for this initial research. The existing theories of business and revenue models have been developed into a normal paradigm. However, the existing paradigm is not sufficient for us to understand emerging platform businesses, such as ecosystems, value proposition, business and revenue models, the digitalization of products/services, and business process etc. Particularly, while few initial studies of platforms have documented in the literature, there is much we do not know (Evans & Gawer, 2016). What are newly emerging platform business and revenue models? What are components of the platform business models that are different from that of pipeline businesses (traditional businesses)? How platforms implement their strategies, create value, and conduct business processes? This study aims to explore these issues. It is suggested that the case study approach is deemed proper for a research project that is exploratory in nature, especially appropriate in new topic areas (Yin, 1994, Kathleen, 1989 and Schwandt, 1997). This paper conducts a case study of several platforms. Case of different platform patterns are selected across industries based on data availability. Data is collected and analyzed at the corporate levels. The paper develops a set of research propositions for the future studies in the area.