PhD defence S. (Shashank) Sharma

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

The overarching objective of this dissertation is to provide insights that can contribute to a
meaningful improvement in competition law enforcement regarding digital multi-sided platforms
(digital MSPs).
To this end, this dissertation (a) identifies certain critical conceptual gaps between more
traditional methods of competition analysis and the new market realities brought about by
MSPs—and digital MSPs in particular; (b) determines which specific characteristics of such digital
MSPs give rise to these gaps in the first place; and (c) offers various novel contributions in an
effort to bridge these analytical gaps.
More specifically, this dissertation addresses three broad themes within the realm of competition
law enforcement concerning MSPs (with a primary focus on digital MSPs): (i) the role of market
definition, (ii) the role of interim measures, and (iii) the scope for private enforcement.
The dissertation demonstrates how the unique nature of digital MSPs (compared to their more
traditional counterparts) raises issues that cannot yet be resolved within our current
understanding and practice of competition law. Most of these issues stem from either the
structural incentives underpinning an MSP’s business model or the dynamic incentives driving
an MSP’s business strategy. In other words: what MSPs are—and how they are designed to
evolve—makes it difficult to apply the existing, traditional competition law framework to them
without modification. To briefly anticipate the detailed analysis in the later chapters:
characteristics of digital MSPs—such as their tendency to tip towards 'winner-takes-all' markets,
the absence of friction in expansion that gives rise to a unique dynamic, and (in many cases) the
lack of direct monetary pricing—make it difficult for traditional competition rules to address them
in a robust manner.