Platform Company

Jan-Jacob Koomen wrote The Platform Company based on his experiences as start-up entrepreneur at Adnovate, digital strategy consultant at BearingPoint, factory manager, and in connected medical devices at Unilever. He is currently CCO at the wholesale platform MegaGroup. He obtained a MSc from TU Delft and training at JIPM-Tokyo, IMD-Lausanne, and Yale-New Haven.

"The nature of business is changing, and organizations experience the need to change accordingly. In this book, Jan-Jacob Koomen takes the reader on a fascinating journey, revealing how firms can successfully adapt to and become part of the new market reality. Using exciting insights from nature as metaphors, he discusses why and how firms need to re-invent themselves in today’s increasingly interconnected world. The book provides the reader with insightful and ready-to-apply ideas, concepts, and frameworks in a unique, storytelling way. As such, the book empowers and inspires at the same time. I highly recommend it to managers of medium-sized firms seeking to grow their business and create value for its stakeholders."—Ruud Frambach, Professor of Marketing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam "It is an excellent read for start-ups that want to evolve into scale-ups, and companies wanting to co-operate with such scale-ups."—Auke van de Hout, Managing Partner Graduate Entrepreneur "An interesting book that introduces the concept of the platform company and explains how to be successful in a highly dynamic and unpredictable world."—Quintin Schevernels, Consigliere for start- and scale-ups, Serial Entrepreneur and Former CEO of Funda and Layar "The Platform Company provides great insights that can accelerate modern strategy formation in corporations. It takes you out of the comfort zone, and forces you into a tough evaluation of the competitive position of the organization."—Eric van Westbroek, Director Consumer & Online PostNL, Managing Director Innovation Studio PostNL "A fascinating read that takes marketers and managers on a safari through their own business. Over the course of Jack’s safari, the author is able to simplify seemingly complex business issues using practical concepts and actionable insights."—Ivan Roth, Chief Commercial Officer NetRom and former Global Marketing Director, specialized nutrition division, Danone

• Preface, Structure of the book, Introduction: The start of the six-day journey, 1. Utilitarian brands: Reimagining brand value creation in a connected audience, 2. Channel conflict: Building rich revenue through value adding channels, 3. Innovation in the crowd: Switching attention from startup to scaleup, 4. Supply chain competition: Creating localized, personalized, and relevant value leadership, 5. Platform company: Designing a platform to achieve a sustainable competitive position, 6. Leading through purpose: Defining the core value that your organization is meant to produce, Background & Acknowledgements, Further reading, Index