Marshall Van Alstyne
Questrom Professor in Management, Professor Information Systems
Department: Questrom School of Business
Colleges / Universities: Boston University
Contact
Office 649
595 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Email: mva@bu.edu
Website: Boston University faculty profile
Marshall Van Alstyne is the Questrom Professor in Management, Professor of Information Systems, and Department Chair of Information Systems at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. He is one of the leading experts in network business models. Professor Van Alstyne conducts research on information economics, covering such topics as communications markets, the economics of networks, intellectual property, social effects of technology, and productivity effects of information. As co-developer of the concept of “two sided networks” he has been a major contributor to the theory of network effects, a set of ideas now taught in more than 50 business schools worldwide.
Professor Van Alstyne’s awards include two patents, National Science Foundation IOC, SGER, SBIR, iCorp and Career Awards, and six best paper awards. His articles have appeared in Science, Nature, Management Science, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Two of Professor Van Alstyne’s recent papers have won best paper: “Innovation, Openness & Platform Control” co-authored with Geoffrey Parker (Management Science, 2018) and “Platform Ecosystems: How Developers Invert the Firm" co-authored with Xiaoyue Jiang and Geoffrey Parker (MIS Quarterly, 2017).
Degrees
Ph.D. Information Systems Economics, MIT, 1997
M.S. Information Systems, MIT, 1991
B.A. Computer Science, Yale, 1984
Recent Academic Article Summaries
It’s Time to Update Section 230
The 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) makes online platforms immune from liability for harmful content posted by third parties. Platforms should enjoy immunity only if the platform takes reasonable steps to prevent harm.
Removal of harmful content will not violate free speech rights.
Digital platforms create value for users and make markets more efficient. But some platforms gain excessive market power. Antitrust agencies and regulators must adopt new methods to preserve the benefits of platforms but reduce harm.
Traditional antitrust methods fail to address concerns about digital platforms. Regulators should support transparency and data sharing.
Using Data and Respecting Users
Firms should make ethical choices in using data to avoid souring relationships with users. Three basic guidelines reduce risk and help maintain user trust.
Users should benefit from firms’ use of their data. Detailed data should be discarded.
Platforms and Ecosystems: Enabling the Digital Economy
Digital platforms alter the structure of markets and create complex business ecosystems. Platforms challenge traditional methods of management and regulation.
Digital platforms require new approaches to business strategy and governance.
Innovation, Openness, and Platform Control
This paper asks why some products, like Microsoft’s Windows, are made to work with those produced by others.
Antitrust regulators should hesitate to intervene with leading technology platforms, because the platforms have reasons to benefit consumers and the market is very complex.
Blog Posts
Quotes in the News
Van Alstyne, M. (2011, April 26). Wired.“Having a smaller number of high-bandwidth relationships can be good for you.”
Marshall Van Alstyne
Questrom Professor in Management, Professor Information Systems
Questrom School of Business
Boston University
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