Maximizing Strategic Alliances in the Multi-Sided Platform Firms

The growth of multi-sided platform (MSP) firms, especially those with high Internet utilization such as Uber, Tokopedia, Go-Jek as well as other sharing economy firms, started to catch the attention of strategic management scholars. Since multi-sided platforms have more than one distinct user side with various role in the business ecosystem, the strategic alliances between the MSP and its platform members may play a significant role in increasing the user base as well as the value of the platform itself. However, there are still few researches that discuss the strategic alliances within the MSP. For this reason, this conceptual article aims at mapping the strategic alliances literature relevant to the MSP context through in-depth literature review. Two case analyses from high growth MSP firms in Indonesia are presented to explain this phenomenon.