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Okayama University's Lecture on Platform Business Challenges

On November 14, 2025, Okayama University held a significant lecture titled "The Challenges of Platform Businesses" at the Tsushima Campus' 50th-anniversary memorial hall. Organized by the Okayama University Economics Society, comprised of faculty and students from the Faculty of Economics, this event attracted participants including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, and external guests.

The session opened with welcoming remarks from Misato Sato, president of the Economics Society and a professor from the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, along with Jo Shin Murai, dean of the Faculty of Economics. The keynote speaker was Professor Nobuaki Matsushima from Osaka University, who is also the Director of the Competition Policy Research Center at the Japan Fair Trade Commission. He presented on the topic of platform businesses and their competitive dynamics in the digital economy.

Professor Matsushima began by elucidating the fundamental structure of platforms, explaining their critical roles in facilitating transactions between companies and individuals in the digital landscape. He pointed out that while network effects can enhance user benefits, they also create potential barriers to entry and competitive challenges. His talk delved into the widely-discussed issue of self-preferencing by platform operators, examining its implications on competition.

He further explored how data utilization by companies has come under scrutiny, discussing the implications of data concentration in market behaviors. Matsushima's discourse underlined the intricate relationships between data, competition, and regulation within platform markets. He articulated how the policies surrounding data sharing and utilization are evolving as key considerations in competition policy, advocating for appropriate policy responses to address the rapidly changing digital market dynamics.

The lecture highlighted the profound influence of business practices in digital markets on competition, addressing contemporary competition policy cores and providing insights on the future direction of platform regulations and competition strategies. Attendees engaged actively, reflecting their keen interest in the topic during the Q&A session that followed.

This lecture illustrates Okayama University's commitment to facilitating meaningful academic discussions and inviting notable researchers to engage with the community. As a distinctive research university in the region, Okayama University continues to play a pivotal role in fostering education and innovation for sustainable development, contributing significantly to both local and global research efforts. We can expect to see more enriching events from the university in the future, reinforcing its status as a pivotal player in the academic landscape.

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