
Prof. Parthasarathi Roy delivered a talk on his current research at the 9th SME Research Colloquium, on 15th February 2019, titled, “From pipelines to platforms: Indian perspective to an emerging organizational field.” Online platforms have emerged as the dominant form of digital business models in recent times. These platforms are different from the traditional view of ‘pipeline businesses’ which were linear configuration(s) of value chain. Following the institutional theory rubric, selected Indian digital platforms across different domains are analyzed for their evolution and manifestations across the different dimension of an organizational field. By evaluating the type of institutional pressures these platforms face, four propositions are inferred. The study contributes to entrepreneurship and strategic management literature by understanding platforms in their holistic context and finding patters among the reported conflicts of Indian platforms with their traditional pipeline counterparts. Results of the study would contribute in better framing of regulatory policies to nurture the digital start-ups.