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  • May 24, 2021
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

What Makes an Online Marketplace Disruptive?

By: Clifford Maxwell and Scott Duke Kominers
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

Platforms like Airbnb, eBay, and Angie’s List have changed how markets work. But while many are innovative and make life easier for consumers, which are truly disruptive? Hewing to Clay Christensen’s theory of disruption, platforms—which operate as online marketplaces—are disruptive when they create new consumers, producers, or both, functionally creating new transactions (and new kinds of transactions) that weren’t possible before. Specifically, there are four novel transaction types that can unlock disruptive potential: smaller supply units, bundles, new suppliers, and trust wrappers.

Keywords

Market Platforms; Disruption; Framework

Citation

Maxwell, Clifford, and Scott Duke Kominers. "What Makes an Online Marketplace Disruptive?" Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (May 24, 2021).

About The Author

Scott Duke Kominers

Entrepreneurial Management
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