Disruptive Digitalisation and Platforms

This book provides an overview of the opportunities and risks of digitalisation and the platforms that embody it and constitute society's new infrastructure. From a management point of view – defined here as the steering of organised and finalised collective action – understanding this major socio-technical disruption is paramount. The book helps to comprehend its main players, such as the American GAFAM, their power and its sources, their architecture, and their impact on different industries and professions, labour markets, companies, and education.

Responding to the dominance of tech giants, numerous initiatives are striving to regulate their influence, safeguard democratic sovereignty, promote fair competition in the digital sphere, and employ frugal digitalisation methods to counteract detrimental aspects of these “oligopolistic” platforms. In essence, shouldn't the overarching aim of digitalisation be to foster community development, strengthen individual and collective capabilities, and preserve the environment, while producing goods and services to meet shared societal interests? Throughout the four sections of this book and its 16 chapters, actors in the digital process and/or academics provide analyses and illustrations of the great digital transformation, examining the ways in which socio-technical advances can be created or used for the benefit of all, while avoiding major risks.

Mathias Béjean is full professor in strategy and innovation management at Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne, affiliated with the IRG research lab. Additionally, he holds a professorship at École polytechnique, where he teaches a course on public innovation and collaborates with the i3-CRG research lab.

Julienne Brabet is professor emeritus of management at the University of Paris Est Créteil where she is member of the IRG (Institut de Recherche en Gestion) and is fellow of EURAM (European Academy of Management).

Edoardo Mollona graduated cum laude in Strategic Management at Bocconi University in Milan (Italy) and received a PhD degree in Strategic Management/Decision Sciences at the London Business School. He is currently full professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI) at the University of Bologna, where he teaches Corporate Strategy and Business Ethics.

Corinne Vercher-Chaptal is full professor in Management Sciences at the University Sorbonne Paris Nord (USPN) and a member of the CEPN research laboratory (UMR CNRS 7234).