Three Lessons From Germany’s Platform Economy

Frontiers |

Svenja Falk and Frank Riemensperger

In the B2B platform economy, companies are looking beyond just selling products and are building platforms that enable others — customers, suppliers, and partners — to create value.

Why Some Platforms Are Better Than Others

Frontiers |

Jonathan A. Knee

Executives often look at the network effects of digital platforms as a key source of competitive advantage — without understanding that platforms need to also leverage other factors at play in the local markets and among preferred customers. Network effects can help, but on their own, they offer very limited competitive value.

Transforming Manufacturing and Supply Chains With 4D Printing

Frontiers |

Monika Mahto and Brenna Sniderman

Next on the horizon is 4D printing, an emerging technology that would allow managers to meet supply chain challenges with customized, adaptive, and potentially self-modulating equipment. Manufacturers should start considering how their infrastructure and supply chains might benefit from this technology as it unfolds.

The Only Way Manufacturers Can Survive

Vijay Govindarajan and Jeffrey R. Immelt

Although most manufacturers are beginning to flirt with digital technologies, not one has successfully pulled off a digital transformation. CEOs still have to figure out its art — and science — forcing them to draw up their game plans on the fly, which inevitably leads to tension and trauma. But they are learning. Here’s how GE has navigated its own digital transformation process.