A Staged Solution to the Catch-22

Andrei  Hagiu; Thomas  Eisenmann

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Article | Harvard Business Review | November 2007

A Staged Solution to the Catch-22

by Andrei Hagiu and Thomas Eisenmann

Abstract

Companies looking to launch a two-sided platform—between, for example, credit card users and merchants, or search engine users and advertisers—must overcome the reluctance of one side to sign on until it's confident the other side will be well populated. It's a common business quandary, but Google and Charles Schwab both found a way around it.

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Social Psychology; Two-Sided Platforms;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Hagiu, Andrei, and Thomas Eisenmann. "A Staged Solution to the Catch-22." Harvard Business Review 85, no. 11 (November 2007).

About the Author

Thomas R. Eisenmann

Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration

Entrepreneurial Management

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A Staged Solution to the Catch-22

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