Each year Thinkers50 asks the question: who is the world’s most influential living management thinker? Questrom’s Marshall Van Alstyne and co-author Geoff Parker make the 2023 list.
Together, they developed the concept of two-sided markets, which is used extensively in platform business models, and delivered the first comprehensive analysis of platform technology. Marshall Van Alstyne was also one of the first to measure the dollar value of social networks. Originators of the concept of the inverted firm, which argues that value is increasingly created outside the organization rather than internally, Van Alstyne and Parker are the authors of the book Platform Revolution, a comprehensive analysis of how platforms use technology to match producers and consumers in a multi-sided marketplace. Platform Revolution includes guidance
Published every two years, the Thinkers50 Ranking is the definitive list of the most influential management thinkers in the world and answers one simple question: who is the world’s most influential living management thinker?. The criteria are evaluated on a weighted basis, taking account of the thinker’s performance over the long term and the two years since the previous ranking.