Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google (HBS 5-513-100) Debrief Questions

1)Define the contested boundaries among Amazon. Apple, Facebook and Google.

2)For each contested boundary that you have identified, how is the contest likely to play out? How many contests give rise to winner-take-all markets? How many to always-a-share markets? How will the complex ecosystems, in which online businesses are built on top of other online businesses and third-party sellers that rely on platforms, evolve?

3)Consider Facebook and Apple as platforms. Are they the same kind of platform?

4)Identify a firm that you know something about, for example a media company, a retailer, or manufacturing firm, with some involvement in the online economy. How many, if any, of the big four firm does it currently rely on? Might that reliance change? How might that firm hedge the risks it will face if there is a transition to one of the others or to a new player?

5)What skills will be under-supplied in the future of the digital economy that you envisage?