Network Effects in Standards and Platforms

Companies and other organisations use both standards and platforms to progress and innovate. Academics from both fields agree that standards and platforms can have big economic and social repercussions, mainly because of increasing returns of scale for their adoption (i.e. network effects). Through this article, we present a taxonomy of same-side and cross-side network effects, and discuss their application within the domains of standards and platforms. By means of theoretical reasoning and a review of network effects literature, we posit a framework for calculating network effects based on the number of potential interactions between nodes. This framework represents a strategic tool for reaching economies of scale through standards and platforms, as well as an instrument for policymakers to better understand dominance of proprietary standards and platforms, and give them instruments to mitigate the risks of potential abuse of such dominance.

Meeting URL: https://eur-nl.zoom.us/j/99287157811?from=addon

Meeting ID: 992 8715 7811