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International Conference on Digital Economy

ICDEc 2019: Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation pp 373–386Cite as

Multi-sided Platforms in the Sharing Economy – A Case Study Analysis for the Development of a Generic Platform

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 358))

Abstract

In the digitization era, multi-sided platforms (MSPs) have evolved to powerful business models. Companies from the Sharing Economy (SE) use such business models to act as intermediaries between suppliers and customers through implementing specific functionalities on their platforms. This paper uses a case study methodology and analyzes the platform functionalities of five companies: Airbnb, Uber, Couchsurfing, BlaBlaCar and TaskRabbit. The analysis shows that these companies exhibit similarities and differences in the design of their platform functionalities. Subsequently, the results obtained here are used to elaborate a generic concept for the design of digital platforms in this field. The identified functional areas are: tendering, search for offers, booking of services and associated fees, rating systems and safety, as well as trust functions. As such, the paper contributes to the scientific discussion in the field of platform-based business model design in the SE.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW, Leipzig, Germany

    Claudia Vienken, Nizar Abdelkafi & Cyrine Tangour

Authors
  1. Claudia Vienken
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  2. Nizar Abdelkafi
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  3. Cyrine Tangour
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia Vienken .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ESEN, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

    Rim Jallouli

  2. ESEN, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

    Mohamed Anis Bach Tobji

  3. Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

    Deny Bélisle

  4. Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada

    Sehl Mellouli

  5. International University of Beirut, Mazraa, Lebanon

    Farid Abdallah

  6. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Ibrahim Osman

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix 1. Criteria used for the case study analysis
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Vienken, C., Abdelkafi, N., Tangour, C. (2019). Multi-sided Platforms in the Sharing Economy – A Case Study Analysis for the Development of a Generic Platform. In: Jallouli, R., Bach Tobji, M., Bélisle, D., Mellouli, S., Abdallah, F., Osman, I. (eds) Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation. ICDEc 2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 358. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30874-2_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30874-2_29

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30873-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30874-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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