The outlines of the impact upon work of the ever more pervasive online platforms are beginning to come into focus. Previously, fairly settled terms such as “jobs”, “employment”, “labor”, and even “work” itself are, for some, being replaced by “income generation” or “value creation”. To capture the difference between platform-organized work or labor and traditional activities, we use the commonly used term “platform work.” This raises the question of whether a different context for the way goods and services are delivered is emerging. This essay reviews the extant understanding of the...
Intensifying concerns about online platform firms’ rapid rise, expansion, and growing asymmetric power have attracted political scrutiny and undermined the legitimacy of a minimalist regulatory regime that is giving way to intense debate and increasingly interventionist governmental policies and enforcement actions. First, we view the rise of, and recent political responses to, the often-predatory power and manipulative conduct of platform firm in terms of a ‘Polanyian’ double movement in which the destabilising and destructive effects of unchecked corporate activities and market...
In a recent trend in digitalization, many platform incumbents have steered their focus towards creating collectively shared persistent virtual frameworks known as ‘metaverses’. Due to the emergence of digital platforms in the game industry over the last decade, the industry is now challenging the digital platform incumbents in metaverse development. Will the development unlock new data-driven markets, how will the landscape of digital platforms be reconfigured, and what are the strategic and policy implications for Finland and the European Union?
We explore the impact of automation and digitalization on labor in the US agrifood system during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study considers each of the primary nodes in the system stretching from consumer through grocery stores and restaurants to last-mile delivery, distribution, food processing, farming, and agri-inputs. Not only automation and digitalization, but also the role of platforms such as Amazon, and food delivery firms such as GrubHub, Instacart, and Uber Eats are discussed. For restaurants, we consider not only dinein restaurants, but also “ghost kitchens”. Furthermore, the...
The increasing dissemination of digital tools and the establishment of a digital infrastructure have sparked a transformation towards digital economies, a central feature of which are platforms. Premised upon network effects and the control of the flow of information converted into data points, they have become a disruptive force in the business landscape. Distinguishing between infrastructure and sectoral platforms, we show that the current trajectory of digital transformation is dominated by big tech companies because they both provide and control the digital infrastructure. However, the...
The rise of the platform economy has triggered regulatory responses globally (Kenney and Zysman 2016; Kenney et al. 2021). In the last year, China has taken a leadership role in imposing regulatory limits on its domestic online platforms. The regulatory change is affecting the platform management strategies as well as the globalization investments of Chinese online giants. Using Tencent as an example, this paper illustrates the relationship between the regulatory change and shifts in platform expansion strategies. As gaming and social networks are increasingly regulated in domestic China,...
Today, digital platform firms are among the most valuable and powerful firms in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the movement of social and economic activity online, embedding platforms further into our lives...
The online platform economy in China has grown to become one of the largest in the world, with several Chinese platform firms rivaling their American counterparts in size, revenue, and market capitalization. Their rise has challenged existing businesses and forced governments to find new ways to regulate the sector without stifling economic growth and innovation. In this paper, we present a structured explanation of the changes in governance of these private firms by the Chinese government as they grew from startups to powerful and indispensable actors in China’s...
The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) receiving increased attention. These EEs are composed not only of startups but also organizations and individuals that support startups. Research has been ambivalent about whether an EE is spatially bounded or can include distant organizations. Further, the literature has not reached a consensus as to whether entrepreneurial versus industrial domain knowledge is of greater importance. Finally, most EE studies, when empirical, use panel data, though conceptual development recognizes that EEs are not static but, rather, are emergent and...
Intensifying concerns about on line platform firms’ rapid rise, expansion, and growing asymmetric power have attracted political scrutiny and undermined the legitimacy of a minimalist regulatory regime that is giving way to intense debate and increasingly interventionist governmental policies and enforcement actions. First, we view the rise of, and recent political responses to, the often-predatory power and manipulative conduct of platform firm in terms of a “Polanyian” double movement in which the destabilizing and destructive effects of unchecked corporate activities and market...