It has taken platforms only twenty years to become digital economy hubs. They 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. The edited collection, prepared by scholars from the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, will be valuable to researchers and academics across the fields of strategic management, marketing, innovations, international business, and the digital economy.

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.

During the last decade, platform businesses such as Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and eBay have been taking over the world. In almost every sector, traditional businesses are under attack from digital disrupters that are effectively harnessing the power of communities. But what exactly is a platform business and why is it different? In Platform Strategy, Laure Claire Reillier and Benoit Reillier provide a practical guide for students, digital entrepreneurs and executives to understand what platforms are, how they work and how you can build one successfully. Using their own "rocket model" and original case studies (including Google, Apple, Amazon), they explain how designing, igniting and scaling a platform business requires learning a whole new set of management rules. Platform Strategy also offers many fascinating insights into the future of platforms, their regulation and governance, as well as how they can be combined with other business models. Benoit Reillier and Laure Claire Reillier are co-founders of Launchworks, a leading advisory firm focused on helping organizations develop and scale innovative business models.

The proliferation of entrepreneurship, technological and business innovations, emerging social trends and lifestyles, employment patterns, and other developments in the global context involve creative destruction that transcends geographic and political boundaries and economic sectors and industries. This creates a need for an interdisciplinary exploration of disruptive technologies, their impacts, and their implications for various stakeholders widely ranging from government agencies to major corporations to consumer groups and individuals. Disruptive Technology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines innovation, imitation, and creative destruction as critical factors and agents of socio-economic growth and progress in the context of emerging challenges and opportunities for business development and strategic advantage. Highlighting a range of topics such as IT innovation, business strategy, and sustainability, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, business executives, business professionals, academicians, and researchers interested in strategic decision making using innovations and competitiveness.

This book goes beyond the hype, delving into real world technologies and applications that are driving our future and examines the possible impact these changes will have on industries, economies and society at large. It details the actions governments and regulators must take in order to ensure these changes bring about positive benefits to the public without stifling innovation that may well be the future source of value creation. It examines how organisations in a world of digital ecosystems, where industry boundaries are blurring, must undertake radical digital transformation to survive and thrive in this new digital world. The reader is taken through a framework that critically examines (i) Digital Connectivity including 5G and IoT; (ii) Data Capture and Distribution which includes smart connected verticals; (iii) Data Integrity, Control and Tokenisation that includes cyber security, digital signatures, blockchain, smart contracts, digital assets and cryptocurrencies; (iv) Data Processing and Artificial Intelligence; and (v) Disruptive Applications which include platforms, virtual and augmented reality, drones, autonomous vehicles, digital twins and digital assistants.

Many of the main problems facing developing countries today and tomorrow--growth, poverty reduction, inequality, food insecurity, job creation, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and adjustment to climate change--hinge on adopting better technology, a key driver of economic development. Access to technology is not enough: firms have to adopt it. Yet it is precisely the uptake of technology that is lagging in many firms in developing countries. Bridging the Technological Divide: Technology Adoption by Firms in Developing Countries helps open the “black box†? of technology adoption by firms. The seventh volume in the World Bank Productivity Project series, it will further both research and policy that can be used to support technology adoption by firms in developing countries.

This book is based on the lectures and contributions of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on “Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Security and Protection Against CBRN Threats” held in Sozopol, Bulgaria, September 2019. It gives a broad overview on this topic as it combines articles addressing the preparation and characterization of different nanoscaled materials (metals, oxides, glasses, polymers, carbon-based, etc.) in the form of nanowires, nanoparticles, nanocomposites, nanodots, thin films, etc. and contributions on their applications in diverse security and safety related fields. In addition, it presents an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology know-how of authors from Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Materials Science and Biology. A further plus-point of the book, which represents the knowledge of experts from over 20 countries, is the combination of longer papers introducing the background on a certain topic, and brief contributions highlighting specific applications in different security areas.

A practical guide to the new economy that is transforming the way we live, work, and play. Uber. Airbnb. Amazon. Apple. PayPal. All of these companies disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret to their success? These cutting-edge businesses are built on platforms: two-sided markets that are revolutionizing the way we do business. Written by three of the most sought-after experts on platform businesses, Platform Revolution is the first authoritative, fact-based book on platform models. Whether platforms are connecting sellers and buyers, hosts and visitors, or drivers with people who need a ride, Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary reveal the what, how, and why of this revolution and provide the first “owner’s manual” for creating a successful platform business. Platform Revolution teaches newcomers how to start and run a successful platform business, explaining ways to identify prime markets and monetize networks. Addressing current business leaders, the authors reveal strategies behind some of today’s up-and-coming platforms, such as Tinder and SkillShare, and explain how traditional companies can adapt in a changing marketplace. The authors also cover essential issues concerning security, regulation, and consumer trust, while examining markets that may be ripe for a platform revolution, including healthcare, education, and energy. As digital networks increase in ubiquity, businesses that do a better job of harnessing the power of the platform will win. An indispensable guide, Platform Revolution charts out the brilliant future of platforms and reveals how they will irrevocably alter the lives and careers of millions.

With the relevant use of internet technologies such as Web 2.0 tools, e-learning can be a way to teach students anywhere at any time. Quality internet connection and a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, offer students the capacities to grow along with knowledge, lectures, and helpful advice for learning in good conditions. Advanced Web Applications and Progressing E-Learning 2.0 Technologies in Higher Education is an essential reference source providing relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in e-learning and mobile learning in modern higher education and its applications in other professional fields such as medical education. Featuring research on topics such as m-learning, knowledge management technologies, computer graphics, image processing, and web-based communities, this book is ideally designed for professionals and researchers seeking coverage on education, adult education, sociology, computer science, and information technology.

Is your organization strategically prepared for the digital and distributed workplace? Technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence already impact how people work and engage with organizations. A dispersed workforce, greater transparency, social change, generational shift and value chain disruptions are driving new behaviors and expectations from the workplace. Together, these trends are shaping a new era of distributed and digitally enabled network of workers where the work comes to workers instead of the workers going to work. In Humans at Work, employee and workplace experience experts Anna Tavis and Stela Lupushor advocate for the adoption of human-centric practices as a critical and necessary part of adapting work and workplaces to the future of work. Outlining the four factors (digitization of work, distributed workplaces, organizational redesign and changing workforce) driving the dramatic changes in the workplace, each chapter provides examples of how innovative companies are building workplace infrastructure and reshaping norms, serving new markets and adopting new technologies. Filled with examples from both start-ups and established companies, Humans at Work is the workplace leader's guide to building a workplace that creates market value by making work more human.