Designing a Market: the Technological Underpinnings of Non-spontaneous Orders

In this paper, we describe digital platforms as instances of market design. Despite the critical role of digital technologies in transforming markets and organizations, they are still viewed as means of improving organizational capabilities and reducing market frictions, thus increasing efficiency. Our approach complements existing studies by taking into account the underlying data processes and the technologies by which digital platforms are supported and extends more recent theory that seeks to understand markets as designed artefacts. Specifically, we focus on how the dynamic personalization of pricing and services enables digital platforms to design and operate as a new kind of digital marketplace.