Disruptive Platforms：Markets, Ecosystems and Monopolists

Over the last few decades platforms have become digital economy hubs that have changed markets, enterprises and society. They have expedited communication, collaboration, and trade for consumers, winning their attention and collecting their data. In doing so, they have made processes, products and industries obsolete, and disrupted the expectations and behaviours of market players.

This raises the question, are digital platforms global innovators or disruptive monopolists? Are they a solution to problems of the past or emissaries of a problematic future? This book provides a multi-faceted approach to platforms and their profound impact on markets and ecosystems. Economic, managerial, social and political aspects are analysed, and the differentiation of platforms and their disruptive potential is reviewed. The book also examines the mechanism of achieving a monopolistic position, including in the international supply chain, and the greater influence of platforms on political activity and contemporary democracy.

With examples from Poland, USA, and China, the contributions offer an international evaluation of disruptive platforms across a multitude of industries. This edited collection will be valuable to researchers and academics across the fields of innovation management, international business, e-commerce and the digital and platform economies.