Agenda

The Art and Science of Market Platforms:
What Bloomberg, e-Bay, Nokia, and the Yahoo! Personals Have in Common
Thursday, February 13, 2003
6:30–9:30 pm
Le Cirque 2000
455 Madison Avenue, New York City

A large and growing part of the economy now depends on the workings of complex markets that defy conventional analysis yet explain the spectacular successes of businesses like American Express and e-Bay, as well as the failures of Enron and a host of specialized B2B Web exchanges. The market complexity stems from the fact that to be successful, these businesses must interact through intermediaries––or what the industry now refers to as market platforms. Market platforms must compete for and attract business from all sides––buyers, sellers, product developers, and distributors––among others. Success, therefore, is determined by how well these “multi-sided” market platforms are able to generate maximum value to each party to the platform and therefore generate maximum returns to investors in the platform-based businesses.

Speakers at this Joint Center event will discuss the application of this concept to business vitality and competition in today’s dynamic environment.

6:30 pm Cocktails

7:00  Discussion
    Robert W. Hahn, AEI-Brookings Joint Center 
    Welcome and Introduction
 
    Peter Passell, The Milken Institute 
    Two-Sided Markets: An Introduction
   
    Marco Iansiti, Harvard Business School 
    A Framework for Evaluating Two-Sided Markets
 
    Michael J. Reuschel, Unisys Corporation 
    Two-Sided Markets and Telecommunications
 
    David S. Evans, NERA Economic Consulting, Inc. 
    The Economics and Public Policy Implications of             
    Two-Sided Markets

7:45  Questions & Answers

8:45  Adjournment