scholarly journals Slaves to Technology: Worker control in the surveillance economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 82-101
Author(s):  
Bama Athreya
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Exploitation ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Worker Exploitation ◽  
And Control ◽  
Case Data ◽  
Perfect Storm

Technology is enabling new forms of coercion and control over workers. While digital platforms for labour markets have been seen as benign or neutral technology, in reality they may enable new forms of worker exploitation. Workers in precarious conditions who seek employment via digital platforms are highly vulnerable to coercion and control via forms of algorithmic manipulation. This manipulation is enabled by information asymmetries, lack of labour protection, and predatory business models. When put together, these deficits create a perfect storm for labour exploitation. This article describes how digital platforms alter traditional labour relations, summarises case data from several existing studies, and details emerging forms of worker control and barriers to worker agency. It explores current definitions of forced labour and whether digital spaces require us to consider a new conceptualisation of what constitutes force, fraud, and coercion. It concludes with a summary of possible responses to these new forms of abuse in the global economy, including alternative models for business and for worker organising.

Understanding the Global Business of Forced Labour: An Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Genevieve LeBaron
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Labour Exploitation ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Rights Issue

This introductory Chapter provides an overview of the political, methodological, and ethical challenges of researching forced labour in the global economy tackled in this Volume. It argues that in spite of these challenges, researchers are pioneering fresh approaches to understanding the business of forced labour that are anchored in strong empirical methods, rather than outdated theoretical propositions or sensationalist newspaper headlines. This burgeoning and interdisciplinary body of research challenges conventional narratives about the nature and role of modern slavery. It reveals that rather than an individualised, randomly occurring human rights issue caused by the moral shortcomings and greed of unscrupulous employers, severe labour exploitation is a coherent and predictable feature of many sectors and regions within the global political economy. The methodological reflections contained within this Volume offer a resource for academics and practitioners seeking to understand forced labour, the factors that shape vulnerability to this phenomenon, and the variegated mechanisms through which businesses systemically profit from labour exploitation.

scholarly journals Factors of the fintech market development in the global economy (the case of the alternative lending)

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-127
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Barykin ◽  
◽  
Andrei L. Bulgakov ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Venture Capital ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Econometric Model ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Venture Capital Investments

Alternative lending is one of the largest segments of the financial technology market in the world which is represented by online platforms specializing in organizing the lending process. The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of key factors on the dynamics of venture capital investments in alternative lending platforms. The objectives of this study are to define the concept of alternative lending, build an econometric model to analyze the factors of development of alternative lending in the world, and interpret the results from the point of view of the prospects for the development of alternative lending. Alternative lending has been defined as a segment of the fintech market that can be characterized as parallel financing of economic activities based on digital platforms through the provision of syndicated loans after decentralized business models. To test the hypotheses of the study, an econometric model was built on the analysis of 5,234 investment transactions completed in the period from 2013 to 2019 in 35 countries of the world and included in the CrunchBase database. According to the model, such factors as the availability of venture capital, the number of workforce, the digital competitiveness of the economy (the factor of future readiness), and the availability of credit information have a significant impact on the dynamics of direct and venture capital investments in alternative lending companies. The obtained results can be considered when improving the national strategy for regulating the alternative lending market, which is especially important for Russia, where the segment of alternative lending is at the stage of stagnation.

scholarly journals The Role of Unfree Labour in Capitalist Development: Spain and Its Empire, Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (S24) ◽  
pp. 187-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Mendiola
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forced Labour

AbstractThis article contributes to the debate on the persistence of forced labour within capitalist development. It focuses on Spain, which has been deeply rooted in the global economy, firstly as a colonial metropolis, and later as part of the European Union. In the first place, I analyse the different modalities of unfree labour that are included in the taxonomy established by the Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations, taking into account the different political regimes in which they are inserted. Therefore, the legal framework regarding unfree labour is analysed for four different political contexts: liberal revolution with colonial empire (1812–1874); liberal parliamentarism with colonial empire (1874–1936); civil war and fascist dictatorship, with decolonization (1936–1975); and parliamentary democracy within globalization (1975–2014). The article goes on to deal with the importance of the main economic reasons driving the demand for forced labour: relative labour shortage and the search for increasing profits. In the conclusion, and taking the Spanish case as a basis, I suggest a series of challenges for furthering the global debate on the role of forced labour under capitalism.

scholarly journals There’s an App for That? Ethical consumption in the fight against trafficking for labour exploitation

2020 ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Stephanie Limoncelli
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Labour Exploitation ◽  
Social Entrepreneurism

Among the market-based strategies being used to fight trafficking for labour exploitation are apps aimed at encouraging ethical consumption. Such apps have surfaced in tandem with the increased involvement of businesses in anti-trafficking efforts and the promotion of social entrepreneurism. In this article, I describe and critically analyse three apps aimed at individual consumers, arguing that they do little to actually address labour exploitation. They rest on questionable assumptions about consumption, employ problematic assessment methodologies, and rely on business models that do more to provide opportunities for social entrepreneurs in the burgeoning anti-trafficking field than solutions for labour exploitation in the global economy.

Changing Business Models in the Context of Digital Transformation of the Global Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 64-69
Author(s):  
Evgenii N. Smirnov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Unit Cost ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Processing Unit ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Digital Platforms

Technological advances have resulted in rapid decrease of the data processing unit cost, which has stimulated a significant increase in the use of digital information that can be manipulated at a high speed and with low marginal costs. This change facilitated the use and integration of digital products and transactions, which led to continuous structural transformation of the economy. Digital technologies are increasingly blurring the boundaries between human life and information technologies, which requires a systemic approach to innovative business models, but so far general concept and unified methodology for systemic development of digital business models are missing. The present article summarizes the main approaches to analyzing changes in business models under the influence of digital transformation. The latter has led both to modification of global value chains and to the development of a new type of global digital platforms operating based on a new system of competitive advantages.

The Development of the Digital Economy in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5E) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Vu Ha
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
High Growth Rate ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
Digital Entrepreneurship

By 2020, the global economy is in decline in every sector except for the digital economy. The core of the digital economy is the digital sector (IT/ICT). However, the scope of the digital economy is even broader than that, encompassing a set of emerging digital business models such as digital services, the platform economy, the sharing economy, and more. Recently, the digital economy has had a high growth rate and is widely applied to other economic fields, especially in the period of COVID-19. This article aims to analyze the current situation of Vietnam's digital economy development through five key pillars: i) digital infrastructure; ii) digital platforms; iii) digital financial services; iv) digital entrepreneurship, and v) digital skills. Based  on these assessments, the paper gives some recommendations for Vietnam in developing a digital economy.

scholarly journals Sharing Economy Phenomenon in the Digitization Era

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilia S. Revenko ◽  
Nikolay S. Revenko
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Collaborative Consumption ◽  
Local Exchange ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Market Growth ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Operational Activities

The article examines foreign and Russian experience in the sharing economy development. The phenomenon of collaborative consumption of goods and services gained an impetus on the back of technological change mainly due to the digitization. Digital platforms have brought the narrow consumer market phenomenon to the global economy level and created prerequisites not only for enhancing the local exchange of temporarily free resources (physical, power, labour, recreational resources and others), but also for their cross-border movement. The high spreading speed of digital technologies and business models based on them, as well as the objectively existing time lag between the ongoing transformations and their evaluation at the theoretical level, create a pluralistic picture of the concepts of this phenomenon. A critical analysis of approaches practiced by experts from different countries to the sharing economy scope revealed a shift in emphasis between some traditional economic categories, generating a field for theoretical discussion. The delicate borderline between the sharing economy and normal business operations causes regulatory problems at national and international levels. Based on their own theoretical views, the authors define the key areas of the sharing economy development, identify current trends that determine the present changes: market growth, multiplication of collectively consumed items, acceleration of operational activities, optimization of the end users’ income and expense. Advantages and disadvantages of sharing economy are also identified

scholarly journals Digitalization of the Financial Activities of Platform Companies: Competitive Potential and social Impact

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
V. P. Bauer ◽  
V. V. Eremin ◽  
M. V. Ryzhkova
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Business Entities

The aim of the article is to define the characteristics of platform companies and their digital platforms as new mechanisms of competition and social transformation in the global economy. The relevance of the article is due to the demand for theexperience of foreign platform companies as the main business models for the competitive development of the economy. The authors apply methods such as theoretical analysis of scientific publications (analysis, synthesis, generalization); deduction as a procedure for the transition from the general to the particular; analysis of the structure of the influence of platform companies on the strategies of competition, highlighting the differences between the platform and linear business models; determining the influence of platform companies on competition among offline partners; identification of competition between platform companies and within them; highlighting aspects of the social impact of the functioning of platforms and platform companies. The study is based on the works of domestic and foreign authors devoted to the analysis of the development of platform companies and the assessment of the social impact of these processes, as well as the interaction between the authors and developers of digital platforms. The scientific novelty of the article is provided by the analysis of a wide range of competition tools, which favorably distinguish the platform approach to modern business from the linear one. The results of the analysis make it possible to form a model of the competition ecosystem in the platform economy. The authors conclude that the basis of the competitive success of platform companies is their ability to expand the scale of activities (as a result of optimizing various types of assets), to minimize costs by involving external users in the process of creating added value, and cross-platform cooperation. The authors recommend that Russian business entities use the experience of foreign platform companies to gain competitive advantages not only in the Russian IT sector but also outside of it. Particularly important are: decentralization of quality control procedures, creation of new sales markets, collection, and processing of large amounts of data, development of strategies for entering markets as suppliers and contractors, diversification of activities at the stage of attracting investments, a social construction.

An old friend is better than two new ones? Approaches to market research in the context of digital transformation for the antitrust laws enforcement

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Shastitko ◽  
O. A. Markova
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Market Definition ◽  
Type I ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Type Ii Errors

Digital transformation has led to changes in business models of traditional players in the existing markets. What is more, new entrants and new markets appeared, in particular platforms and multisided markets. The emergence and rapid development of platforms are caused primarily by the existence of so called indirect network externalities. Regarding to this, a question arises of whether the existing instruments of competition law enforcement and market analysis are still relevant when analyzing markets with digital platforms? This paper aims at discussing advantages and disadvantages of using various tools to define markets with platforms. In particular, we define the features of the SSNIP test when being applyed to markets with platforms. Furthermore, we analyze adjustment in tests for platform market definition in terms of possible type I and type II errors. All in all, it turns out that to reduce the likelihood of type I and type II errors while applying market definition technique to markets with platforms one should consider the type of platform analyzed: transaction platforms without pass-through and non-transaction matching platforms should be tackled as players in a multisided market, whereas non-transaction platforms should be analyzed as players in several interrelated markets. However, if the platform is allowed to adjust prices, there emerges additional challenge that the regulator and companies may manipulate the results of SSNIP test by applying different models of competition.

Money Code Space

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Parkin
Keyword(s):  
Open Source Software ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Distributed Ledger ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Challenging Research ◽  
Digital Politics ◽  
Financial Transactions ◽  
And Control

Newly emerging cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology present a challenging research problem in the field of digital politics and economics. Bitcoin—the first widely implemented cryptocurrency and blockchain architecture—seemingly separates itself from the existing territorial boundedness of nation-state money via a process of algorithmic decentralisation. Proponents declare that the utilisation of cryptography to advance financial transactions will disrupt the modern centralised structures by which capitalist economies are currently organised: corporations, governments, commercial banks, and central banks. Allegedly, software can create a more stable and democratic global economy; a world free from hierarchy and control. In Money Code Space, Jack Parkin debunks these utopian claims by approaching distributed ledger technologies as a spatial and social problem where power forms unevenly across their networks. First-hand accounts of online communities, open-source software governance, infrastructural hardware operations, and Silicon Valley start-up culture are used to ground understandings of cryptocurrencies in the “real world.” Consequently, Parkin demonstrates how Bitcoin and other blockchains are produced across a multitude of tessellated spaces from which certain stakeholders exercise considerable amounts of power over their networks. While money, code, and space are certainly transformed by distributed ledgers, algorithmic decentralisation is rendered inherently paradoxical because it is predicated upon centralised actors, practices, and forces.

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