Searching for paid tasks via digital labour platforms, such as Uber, Deliveroo and Fiverr, has become a global phenomenon and the regular source of income for millions of people. In the advent of digital labour platforms, this insightful book sheds new light on familiar questions about tensions between competition and cooperation, short-term gains and long-term success, and private benefits and public costs. Drawing on a wealth of knowledge from a range of disciplines, including law, management, psychology, economics, sociology and geography, it pieces together a nuanced picture of the societal challenges posed by the platform economy.

An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economy Many think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs and investors can understand what makes the giants work, and learn the keys to lasting success in the digital economy. Knee explains what really makes the biggest tech companies work: a surprisingly disparate portfolio of structural advantages buttressed by shrewd acquisitions, strong management, lax regulation, and often, encouraging the myth that they are invincible to discourage competitors. By offering fresh insights into the true sources of strength and very real vulnerabilities of these companies, The Platform Delusion shows how investors, existing businesses, and startups might value them, compete with them, and imitate them. The Platform Delusion demystifies the success of the biggest digital companies in sectors from retail to media to software to hardware, offering readers what those companies don't want everyone else to know. Knee's insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs and investors in digital businesses seeking to understand what drives resilience and profitability for the long term.

Throughout the last decade, the ‘gig economy’ has emerged as one of the most significant developments in the world of work. As a novel, hyper-flexible form of labour, gig work features a uniquely fragmented working arrangement wherein independent workers partner with digital platform organisations to provide a range of on-demand services to customers. Work in the Gig Economy: A Research Overview provides a concise overview to the key themes and debate that encompass the gig economy literature. It covers five core themes: an introduction to gig work; classification issues; the role of technology; the experiences of gig workers; and the future of gig work. As an emerging and diverse research field, contributions stem from an array of perspectives including psychology, sociology, human resource management, legal studies, and technology management. The chapters synthesise the most prominent insights into this emerging field, key thinking on the complex relationships and conditions found in gig work, and the most significant issues to be addressed as the gig economy continues to develop. A critical introduction for students, scholars and reflective professionals and policymakers, this book provides much needed direction through the rapidly growing and expansive body of research on work in the gig economy.

Digital revolution demands new approaches to regulating work. The ‘Uberisation’ of work is not, in reality, a new phenomenon. It reintroduces the practices of ‘on-demand’ engagement of labour, common prior to the development of continuing employment. What is new, however, is the capacity of digital technology to engage labour in ways that avoid characterisation as employment according to the legal tests developed in the 20th century. This book tackles the challenge of ensuring that the emerging tribes of ‘gig’ workers in labour markets across the globe are afforded decent standards of work. This book discusses how to provide decent conditions and safe working standards for on-demand workers engaged through digital platforms. It interrogates the rise of gig work, and the legal strategies that might be engaged to deal with the risk that on-demand work will fall and remain outside of employment protections. It draws on observations of practices across the globe but focusses particularly on regulatory solutions developed in Australia. The book will be a useful reference to policy making and legal reforms to address vulnerabilities of gig workers.

Artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users. These companies are largely self-regulating in Western countries. How do economic theories explain the rise of a very few dominant platforms? Mansell and Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy explanations. They show how these perspectives can lead to contrasting claims about platform benefits and harms. Uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are treated differently in these economic traditions. Sometimes leading to advocacy for regulation or for public provision of digital services. Sometimes indicating restraint and precaution. The authors challenge the reader to think beyond the inevitability of platform dominance to create new visions of how platforms might operate in the future.

Over the past decade, platforms have spread through many industries and generated an increasing share of the global economy. Many of the world’s most valuable companies have adopted a platform-based business model and today, we find that platforms pervade our everyday lives. So far, however, the existing management literature has failed to provide professionals and students with appropriate tools to understand the business models that make those platforms successful. This book offers rigorous analysis of the complexity of platforms, as well as practical strategic guidance and tools to help you deal with this complexity. Written in an accessible style and based on a comprehensive approach, Platform Strategies is self-contained and does not require the reader to have specific prior knowledge. The book is both academically rigorous and a pragmatic and efficient guide, incorporating path-breaking insights from academic research on platforms with real-world applications of concepts and tools. The book engages with case studies and highlights important take-aways that can be implemented in practice. You’ll learn how to use new tools of strategic management and how to adapt well-established ones. This book is an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs (experienced or aspiring), managers of existing platforms and businesses, professionals, and students in business, management, and economics.

In the past two decades, research on electronic commerce and platforms has thrived. Tremendous academic research has been conducted on this specific concept. Over the last decade, with the rise of applications and mobile technology, that stream of research has extended to the collaborative economy, more colloquially known as the sharing economy. The commonality between e-commerce and collaborative consumption being that they both occur online and rely predominantly on platforms. The Handbook of Research on the Platform Economy and the Evolution of E-Commerce is a comprehensive reference book offering a holistic perspective of the platform economy by connecting the e-commerce and collaborative economy streams into a common framework. As such, this integrated perspective offers a clearer understanding of the key trends in research and in managerial action, as well as an agenda for future studies and practice. This handbook emphasizes how the digital transition will create an increased merging between physical and digital activities, as well as the challenges and opportunities pertaining to this trend. Covering topics including sharing economy, Marketing 4.0, and digital applications, this book is essential for marketers, managers, executives, students, researchers, and academicians.