ECO4145 Platform EconomicsBahçeşehir UniversityDegree Programs ECONOMICS AND FINANCEGeneral Information For StudentsDiploma SupplementErasmus Policy StatementNational QualificationsBologna Commission
ECONOMICS AND FINANCE
Bachelor TR-NQF-HE: Level 6 QF-EHEA: First Cycle EQF-LLL: Level 6

Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Code Course Name Semester Theoretical Practical Credit ECTS
ECO4145 Platform Economics Spring 3 0 3 6
This catalog is for information purposes. Course status is determined by the relevant department at the beginning of semester.

Basic information

Language of instruction: English
Type of course: Non-Departmental Elective
Course Level: Bachelor’s Degree (First Cycle)
Mode of Delivery: Hybrid
Course Coordinator : Assoc. Prof. EMİN KÖKSAL
Course Lecturer(s): Assoc. Prof. EMİN KÖKSAL
Course Objectives: This course aims the analyse the basic economic principles of platforms that connect one group of customers with another group of customers.

Learning Outcomes

The students who have succeeded in this course;
1. Identify platforms
2. Explain the functioning of a platform
3. Idenfity network effects
4. Evaluate direct and indirect network effects
5. Analyze platform business models
6. Evaluate platforms' behaviours
7. Analyze platforms' competitive strategies
8. Acquire a solid understanding for promotion and subsidy strategies

Course Content

After an introduction to the basic concepts and principles of platform economics, value creation and ecosystem of platforms will be analyzed. Business models and competitive strategies of the local and global companies such as Yemeksepeti, Bitaksi, Gitti Gidiyor, eBay, Amazon, Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, Booking will also be elaborated both from theoretical and empirical perspectives.

Weekly Detailed Course Contents

Week Subject Related Preparation
1) Introduction and Basic Concepts
2) Economic Principles for Platforms
3) The Technologies Behind Platforms
4) How Multi-Sided Platforms Create Value
5) Getting off the Critical Mass
6) Pricing for Profitability and Growth
7) Shaping the Platform’s Ecosystem
8) Designing the Platform
9) Evaluating Platform Pioneers
10) The Transformation of Payments
11) The Transformation of Retail
12) Antitrust Issues in Platform Economics
13) Public Policy Towards Platforms
14) The Future of Platforms

Sources

Course Notes / Textbooks: David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee, Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2016.
References: Alvin Roth, Who Gets What and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).

Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, Information Rules (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1998)

Evaluation System

Semester Requirements Number of Activities Level of Contribution
Presentation 1 % 20
Midterms 1 % 30
Final 1 % 50
Total % 100
PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK % 50
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL WORK % 50
Total % 100

ECTS / Workload Table

Activities Number of Activities Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours 14 3 42
Study Hours Out of Class 14 3 42
Presentations / Seminar 1 18 18
Midterms 1 20 20
Final 1 30 30
Total Workload 152

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

No Effect 1 Lowest 2 Low 3 Average 4 High 5 Highest
           
Program Outcomes Level of Contribution
1) Build up a body of knowledge in mathematics and statistics, to use them, to understand how the mechanism of economy –both at micro and macro levels – works. 3
2) Understand the common as well as distinctive characters of the markets, industries, market regulations and policies. 2
3) Develop an awareness of different approaches to the economic events and why and how those approaches have been formed through the Economic History and understand the differences among those approaches by noticing at what extent they could explain the economic events. 1
4) Analyze the interventions of politics to the economics and vice versa. 3
5) Apply the economic analysis to everyday economic problems and evaluate the policy proposals for those problems by comparing opposite approaches. 2
6) Understand current and new economic events and how the new approaches to the economics are formed and evaluating. 2
7) Develop the communicative skills in order to explain the specific economic issues/events written, spoken and graphical form. 3
8) Know how to formulate the economics problems and issues and define the solutions in a well-formed written form, which includes the hypothesis, literature, methodology and results / empirical evidence. 2
9) Demonstrate the quantitative and qualitative capabilities and provide evidence for the hypotheses and economic arguments. 2
10) Understand the information and changes related to the economy by using a foreign language and communicate with colleagues. 3