DEVELOPING A NEW VALUE PROPOSITION: AN EXPLORATORY AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTI-SIDED B2B PLATFORMS

The market for multi-sided B2C or C2C platforms is already saturated through big players coming from China and US. This is also true for the literature dealing with multi-sided plat-forms. Nevertheless, we are witnessing a recent emergence of multi-sided B2B platforms in the European market. These emerging platforms, however, have not yet been analyzed in depth. Multi-sided B2B platforms adopt business models which depart from current multi-sided plat-form theory and promise high potential of competitive growth. Hence, this paper deals with the exploration of the development of multi-sided B2B platforms in their search towards a new value proposition. We firstly highlight the main features of general multi-sided B2B platforms. These serve as the criteria to define 14 sub questions related to how multi-sided B2B platform match the stated features. A multiple case study design, supported by semi conducted interviews, with 12 different European multi-sided B2B platforms is applied to answer the sub questions. The key findings of this work confirm that multi-sided B2B platforms are indeed - developing new value propositions by extending the platform ecosystem and integrating the requirements of the complex structure of B2B transactions. Specifically, they diverge from more traditional platform businesses around multiple dimensions, including: i) the impact of network effects, ii) the role of non-monetary KPIs, iii) barriers of entry, and iv) horizontal differentiation with the multihoming effect. These differences imply the search for new value propositions of multi-sided B2B platforms. The results of the thesis provide a primary understanding of the relevant features of multi-sided B2B platforms. We argue this is relevant for both professionals and academics aiming to identify success factors to create a global competitive advantage in this context.