Marshall Van Alstyne - Boston University Questrom

Professor Van Alstyne is one of the world’s foremost experts on network business models and coauthor of the international bestseller Platform Revolution. He conducts research on information economics, covering such topics as the economics of speech markets, platform economics, intellectual property, social effects of technology, and productivity effects of information. He has been a major contributor to the theory of two-sided networks taught worldwide, and to the theory of platforms as inverted firms, applied in antitrust law. His work has received more than 27,000 citations, includes a top 50 all-time article for Harvard Business Review, and was recognized by Thinkers 50 as among the most important management contributions globally. Research impact ranks in the top two percent of all scientists.

Honors include two patents, National Science Foundation SaTC, IOC, SGER, SBIR, iCorp and Career Awards, a dozen best paper awards, as well as INFORMS IS 2020 and Herbert Simon 2021 awards for research with real world impact. Articles or commentary have appeared in Science, Nature, Management Science, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a husband and dad, who loves dogs, exercise, travel, and questions of governance.

Education

PhD, MIT Sloan School, 1997

MS, MIT Sloan School, 1991

BA, Yale University, 1984

Selected Research Presentations

Van Alstyne, M. , Ederer, F. , Braid, N. , Cardell, S. , Loriot, G. Platform Antitrust & Regulation, Charles River Associates Regulation Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech & The Fake News Problem, Choice Symposium, Fontainebleau, France, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Platform Regulation & Antitrust, Choice Symposium, Fontainebleau, France, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Platform Regulation & Antitrust, Academy of Management, Boston, MA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech & The Fake News Problem, Academy of Management, Boston, MA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Platform Regulation & Antitrust, Chinese Economics Association, Wuhan, China, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Platform Regulation & Antitrust, Luohan Academy, Hangzhou, China, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Teaching Platform Strategy, IT Teaching Workshop, Boston, MA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech & The Fake News Problem, Yale Free Expression Scholars Conference, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Truth, Trust & Transparency, Thinkers 50 Radar Event, Cambridge, MA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Regulating Platforms, Harvard Platform Regulation Conference, Boston, MA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech & The Fake News Problem, Theory of Economics in IS, San Francisco, CA, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech & The Fake News Problem, Winter Strategy Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, 2023

Van Alstyne, M. Herbert Simon Lecture, Herbert Simon Award Ceremony, Budapest Hungary, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Truth, Trust, Tech & Misinformation, BU Ethics Symposium, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & the Fake News Problem, UT Dallas, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, Wharton, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, Berkeley Law School, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Platform Antitrust, Copenhagen Business School, Online, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Hightower Lecture, Sponsored Lecture at Emory, Atlanta GA, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, Stanford University, 2022

Van Alstyne, M. Towards Efficient Information Sharing in Network Markets, Workshop on Information Systems Economics, Houston, TX (virtual), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Technology, Digital Transformation & Platforms, CTO Forum, San Francisco, CA (virtual), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Truth, Trust & Tech, Thinkers 50, London (virtual), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, NYU Stern Business School & Law School, 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Regulatory Approaches to Digital Platforms, Academy of Management, Seattle, WA (virtual), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & The Fake News Problem, BU Platform Strategy Summit, Boston, MA, 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Dealing with Disinformation, EU Commission Communication on Tackling Online Disinformation (SOMA), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Free Speech, Platforms & Fake News, McGill University, Montreal, CA (virtual), 2021

Van Alstyne, M. Digital Markets: Big Data, Privacy Protection & AI, Competition & Regulation European Summer School & Conference (CRESSE), Heraklion, Crete (virtual)

Publications

Van Alstyne, M., Benzell, S., Hersh, J. (In Press). “How APIs Create Growth by Inverting the Firm”, Management Science

Van Alstyne, M., Smith, M., Lim, H. (In Press). “Improving §230, Preserving Democracy, and Protecting Free Speech”, Communications of the ACM

Zhou, Z., Zhang, L., Van. Alstyne, M. (2024). “How Users Drive Value in Two-Sided Markets: Platform Designs That Matter”, MIS Quarterly, 48 (1), 1-30

Van Alstyne, M., Gu, G., Finger, D. (2023). “Why Customers Leave Platforms – and How to Retain Them”, Harvard Business Review

Fani, V., Clougherty, J., Katila, R., Teece, D., Van Alstyne, M. (2023). “Antitrust: Current Perspectives, Challenges, and Proposed Solutions”, Academy of Management Proceedings, 2023 (1)

Ladd, T., Aversa, P., Buganza, T., Gawer, A., Gu, G., Hagiu, A., Trabucchi, D., Van Alstyne, M., Zhu, F. (2023). “Multi-Sided Platforms: Demise or Renaissance?”, Academy of Management Proceedings, 2023 (1)

Van Alstyne, M., Shekhar, S., Petropoulos, G., Parker, G. (2022). “Mandated Platform Compatibility: Competition and Welfare effects”,

Ploog, J., Rietveld, J., Rietveld, J., Schilling, M., Farronato, C., Kretschmer, T., Ploog, J., Van Alstyne, M. (2022). “Technology Strategy and Competition Track: Thinking Strategically about Network Effects”, Academy of Management Proceedings, 2022 (1)

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G. (2021). “Digital Transformation Changes How Firms Create Value”, Harvard Business Review

Van Alstyne, M., Petropoulos, G., Parker, G., Martens, B. (2021). “‘In situ’ data rights”, Communications of the ACM, 64 (12), 34-35

Van Alstyne, M., Mike, S. (2021). “It’s Time to Update Section 230”, Harvard Business Review

Van Alstyne, M., Smith, M. (2021). “It’s Time to Update Section 230”, Harvard Business Review

Van Alstyne, M., Sokol, D. (2021). “The Rising Risk of Platform Regulation”, MIT Sloan Management Review: MIT’s journal of management research and ideas, 62 (2), 6A-10A

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G., Choudary., S. (2020). Pipelines, Platforms and the New Rules of Strategy.”Pipelines, Platforms and the New Rules of Strategy”,

Chintakananda, A., McIntyre, D., Srinivasan, A., Afuah, A., Boudreau, K., Kretschmer, T., Leiponen, A., Van Alstyne, M. (2019). “Managing Multi-Sided Platforms”, Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019 (1), 12000-12000

Choudary, S., Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G. (2019). “Platforms and Blockchain Will Transform Logistics”, Harvard Business Review

Van Alstyne, M. (2019). “A response to fake news as a response to Citizens United”, Communications of the ACM, 62 26-29

Jacobides, M., Sundararajan, A., Van Alstyne, M. (2019). “Platforms and Ecosystems: Enabling the Digital Economy”, World Economic Forum 1-32

Benzell, S., Hersh, J., Van Alstyne, M., LaGarda, G. (2019). “The Paradox of Openness: Exposure vs. Efficiency of APIs”, Boston University Working Paper (August 5, 2019)

Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2018). “Innovation, openness, and platform control”, Management Science, 64 3015-3032

(2017). “Crowd Souring: 4 Mistakes that Kill Crowdsourcing Efforts”, Harvard Business Review

Tabors, R., Caramanis, M., Ntakou, E., Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M., Centolella, P., Hornby, R. (2017). “Distributed Energy Resources: New Markets and New Products”, Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 8

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G. (2017). “Platform Business: From Resources to Relationships”, NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 9 (1), 24-29

Wan, X., Cenamor, J., Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2017). “Unraveling Platform Strategies: A Review from an Organizational Ambidexterity Perspective”, Sustainability, 9 (5)

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G., Choudary, S. (2016). “Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy”, Harvard Business Review

Van Alstyne, M. (2016). “Platform Revolution”, W W Norton & Co Inc

Schrage, M., Van Alstyne, M. (2015). “Life of IP”, Communications of the ACM, 58 (5), 20-23

Malhotra, A., Van Alstyne, M. (2014). “The Dark Side of the Sharing Economy … and How to Lighten It”, Communications of the ACM, 57 (11), 24-27

Van Alstyne, M. (2014). “Why Bitcoin Has Value”, Communications of the ACM, 57 (5), 30-32

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G. (2014). Platform Strategy.”The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management”, Springer

Van Alstyne, M., Parker, G., Shanker, T. (2013). “How to Strengthen Ad Mail by Building a Digital Information Market”, Office of Inspector General – Risk Analysis Research Center, USPS, RARC-Working Paper (14)

Van Alstyne, M. (2013). “Why Not Immortality?”, Communications of the ACM, 56 (11), 29-31

Dellarocas, C., Van Alstyne, M. (2013). “Money Models for MOOCs”, Communications of the ACM, 56 (8), 25-28

Bulkley, N., Van Alstyne, M. (2012). “An Empirical Analysis of Strategies and Efficiencies in Social Networks”, Khoj Journal of Indian Management Research and Practices, II (2), 28-45

Eisenmann, T., Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2011). “Platform Envelopment”, Strategic Management Journal, 32 (12), 1270-1285

Aral, S., Van Alstyne, M. (2011). “The Diversity-Bandwidth Trade-off”, American Journal of Sociology, 117 (1), 90-171

Van Alstyne, M., Eisenmann, T., Parker, G. (2011). Opening Platforms: How, When and Why.”Platforms, Markets and Innovation”, Edward Elgar Publishing 131-162

Benbya, H., Van Alstyne, M. (2011). “How to Find Answers within Your Company”, MIT Sloan Management Review, 52 (2), 65-75

Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2009). “Six Challenges in Platform Licensing and Open Innovation”, Communications & Strategies (74)

Van Alstyne, M. (2009). “The State of Network Organization: A Survey in Three Frameworks”, Journal of Organizational Computing, 7 (3)

Lazer, D., Pentland, A., Adamic, L., Aral, S., Barabasi, A., Brewer, D., Christakis, N., Contractor, N., Fowler, J., Gutmann, M., Jebara, T., King, G., Macy, M., Roy, D., Van Alstyne, M. (2009). “Computational Social Science”, Science, 323 (5915), 721-723

Gandal, N., King, C., Van Alstyne, M. (2009). “The Social Network within a Management Recruiting Firm: Network Structure and Output”, Review of Network Economics, 8 (4), 302-324

Benbya, H., Van Alstyne, M. (2008). “Eliciting and Validating Knowledge in Knowledge Management Systems”, Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2008), 29 353-353

Van Alstyne, M. (2007). “Curing Spam: Rights, Signals & Screens”, The Economists’ Voice, 4 (2)

Clarkson, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2007). “The Social Efficiency of Fairness: An Innovation Economics Approach to Innovation”, 2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’07), 83 155b-155b

Loder, T., Van Alstyne, M., Wash, R. (2006). “An Economic Response to Unsolicited Communication”, Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, 6 (1)

Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2005). “Two-Sided Network Effects: A Theory of Information Product Design”, Management Science, 51 (10), 1494-1504

Van Alstyne, M., Brynjolfsson, E. (2005). “Global village or cyber-balkans? Modeling and measuring the integration of electronic communities”, Management Science, 51 (6), 851-868

Van Alstyne, M., Bulkley, N. (2004). “Why Information Influence Should Productivity”, Edward Elgar Pub

Van Alstyne, M., Brynjolfsson, E., Madnick, S. (1995). “Why Not One Big Database? Principles for Data Ownership”, Decision Support Systems, 15 267-284