What is it about platforms that has enabled these businesses to reach such scale in such a short time? And perhaps more importantly, what does it mean to businesses that have not yet embraced digital? According to, a new report by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Deloitte and distinguished academics Michael G. Jacobides, Arun Sundararajan, and Marshall Van Alstyne, understanding digital platforms and ecosystems—and their potential—is quickly becoming a competitive imperative.
So is it feasible for a business to build an ecosystem? According to the World Economic Forum report, it is—to an extent. What’s important to recognize is that the digital platform giants out there have based their growth on network effects—that is, users create value for other users who in turn attract more users and so on and so forth. Their ecosystems can be boundless. And while that is essentially the function of a platform, not every business can or should function that way.