In today’s business landscape, understanding digital platforms is essential to scaling operations and influencing decision-making.
“Some of the largest, most valued companies today are platforms,” says Harvard Business School Professor Feng Zhu, who teaches the online course Winning with Digital Platforms. “And you need to know why they’re so successful and how to work with them to stay competitive.”
If you want to enhance your leadership potential in a dynamic digital marketplace, consider taking an online course that offers flexibility and a strong industry reputation, such as HBS Online’s Winning with Digital Platforms.
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhat Is HBS Online’s Winning with Digital Platforms Certificate Course?
Whether transitioning to a platform business model, creating one from scratch, or partnering with a platform company, Winning with Digital Platforms can equip you with the necessary tools to succeed.
To earn a Certificate of Completion, you must finish the course’s five modules, which include:
- Platform Fundamentals: Learn what digital platforms are and how they create value for users.
- Scaling and Sustaining a Platform (Parts 1 and 2): Understand strategies for overcoming scaling challenges and how network properties can increase platforms’ value.
- Transforming into a Platform Firm: Explain the benefits and challenges of transitioning a product or service into a platform.
- Working with Platforms: Explore strategies for combating encroaching platform competition and trends that impact collaborations and partnerships.
Beyond its curriculum, Winning with Digital Platforms' features set it apart. Here’s a deep dive into four of them.
Related: Which HBS Online Entrepreneurship & Innovation Course Is Right for You?
4 Features of HBS Online’s Winning with Digital Platforms Course
1. Real-World Case Studies
Learning business concepts through real-world examples is a pillar of the HBS Online experience. Like all HBS Online courses, Winning with Digital Platforms implements the case method, in which you assume the perspective of a business expert facing a challenge and consider how to solve it alongside peers.
Engaging in the case method through an interactive learning experience can improve your decision-making and self-confidence in uncertain business circumstances. A recent City Square Associates survey of HBS Online learners who took a course from at least one competitor in the past two years found that 76 percent agreed that HBS courses were more impactful than other online business programs.
“How do you go into an ambiguous situation and get to the bottom of it?” says HBS Professor Jan Rivkin, former senior associate dean and chair of HBS's Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, in a video about the case method. “That skill—the skill of figuring out a course of inquiry to choose a course of action—that skill is as relevant today as it was in 1921.”
For example, Winning with Digital Platforms explores the challenges parenting platform startup Picabuu faced when growing its business. To achieve economies of scale, Picabuu increased its user base through targeted promotions, enhanced service quality by encouraging user feedback, and leveraged data insights to improve user engagement. Throughout the course, you'll follow Picabuu's journey and leverage course concepts to provide advice to the startup at each stage.
Related: 5 Ways Real-World Learning Can Boost Your Career
2. Faculty and Expert Practitioner Insights
A cornerstone of the HBS Online experience is learning from industry leaders. In Winning with Digital Platforms, you’re guided by HBS Professor Feng Zhu.
”My research focuses on understanding how digital platforms impact industry structure and firm strategy,” Zhu says in the course. “By examining the interplay between technology and business, we can uncover new ways to create and capture value.”
The course also features:
- Zhubajie Chief Executive Officer Zhu Mingye
- Fasten Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer Vlad Christoff
- HBS Professor Krishna Palepu
- EbonyLife Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mo Abudu
Each provides insights and knowledge they’ve gained throughout their career, such as how to apply strategic thinking and negotiation skills to succeed in a platform-driven economy.
3. Entrepreneurial Insights
Starting a platform business offers exciting opportunities to disrupt industries and stay on the cutting edge if you’re a current or an aspiring entrepreneur. By taking Winning with Digital Platforms, you can discover how core platform characteristics impact your new business's success.
Dynamic pricing, for instance, is one concept you learn about. It’s based on supply and demand, competitors’ rates, and inventory levels. Ride-sharing companies like Uber use it to optimize rates based on routes’ time and distance, traffic, and rider-to-driver ratio—enabling them to respond to market fluctuations while maintaining profitability.
Throughout the course, you learn how such strategies can improve your platform business’s scalability and long-term growth.
Related: 5 Benefits of Platform Business Models
4. Global Community
One way to bolster your learning experience and network with peers is by joining the HBS Online Community.
With over 30 Chapters to join and explore, the Community provides a space to:
- Give and receive support
- Expose yourself to diverse perspectives
- Cultivate lifelong learning
- Build your network
In addition to virtual and in-person events, you can expand your network through the Community’s discussion boards and messaging features.
According to a recent survey of HBS Online learners who also took another provider’s business program:
- 74 percent said HBS Online was better at making learners feel like part of a global network or business community
- 67 percent said the ability to network with classmates during and after their course was better than other online business courses
- 63 percent said learning from peers was better at HBS Online
By participating in the Community, you can gain exposure to different business strategies and cultural nuances to understand how demographics and regions affect your platform business.
Enroll in a Digital Platform Course
Taking advantage of professional development opportunities is crucial to launching a new business venture. By enrolling in an online digital platform course, such as Winning with Digital Platforms, you can learn how to develop data-driven strategies and use the latest technology to create value in your industry.
Do you want to understand digital platforms better? Enroll in Winning with Digital Platforms—one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses—to explore the trends and tactics impacting the platform business landscape. If you’re interested in taking an online course but aren’t sure where to start, download our free guide to online learning success.
