Big Tech and the Digital Economy

Author(s):  
Nicolas Petit

To date, world antitrust and regulatory agencies have invariably described large technology companies—such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook—as dominant, bottleneck or gatekeeping companies comparable to the textbook monopolists of the early twentieth century. They have proceeded on this basis to discipline their business activities with unprecedented financial penalties and other regulatory obligations. This “techlash” is the subject of this book. Proceeding from the observation that big tech firms engage in both monopoly and oligopoly competition across digital markets, the book introduces a theory of moligopoly competition. It suggests that rivalry-spirited antitrust and regulatory laws are both conceptually and methodologically impervious to the competitive pressure that bears on big tech firms, resulting in a risk of well-intended but irrelevant policy intervention. The book proposes a refocusing of competition policy towards certain types of tipped markets where digital firms extract monopoly rents, and careful adoption of regulation toward other social harms generated by big tech’s business models.

Author(s):  
Aleksandra Krasnobaeva

The author gives attention to the most relevant and discussed question of international taxation – rules of direct taxation of corporate income in the conditions of digital economy. The subject of this research is the problems of taxation of corporations that use digital business models in their activity. The object of this research is the existing and proposed rules for corporate taxation. The relevance of this research is substantiated by the fact that the final proposals of OECD within the framework of Action of the BEPS plan, dedicated to the problems of taxation in the era of digital economy, are expected in the nearest future. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive research of the problems of direct taxation in the conditions of digital economy, their categorization, and concealment of causes contributing to their occurrence. The article presents substantiation to an original approach towards determining the problems in taxation of digital economy and development of measures aimed at resolving these problems. In course of research, the author argues the need to delineate problems in order to search for proper solutions. Defending the position of prematurity of introduction of measures regarding the problem of tax evasion and aggressive taxation planning by digital companies, the author refers to the absence of data on implementation of previous initiatives in this sphere that could demonstrate the degree of necessity for further measures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
N. Rozanova

Digital economy has significantly changed business reality. The radical transformations are ubiquitous. New patterns feature economic behaviour of market participants, their interactions, their business models and their market activities. What about competition? What forms of competitive conduct have lost importance in contemporary digital economy? And what are the newest strategies that enhance competitiveness of the firms? Which digital business practices could limit competition? And which of them could stimulate business rivalry? Digitalization has changed many, in not all, of our traditional conceptual visions in the area of competition, market, market power, relevant market actors. The nature of competition itself is under scrupulous investigation. What conclusions could we draw from current theoretical and empirical analyses of competition mechanism? First of all, we deal with new forms of competition. The old Schumpeterian question – whether competition is a creative innovative destruction or it leads only to unfair elimination of competitors from the market – has arisen again nowadays. Online competition has two radically different outcomes. On the one hand, lower transaction costs, more possibilities to compare prices and assortment, expanding markets beyond geographical limits, low entry barriers reinforce rivalry. On the other hand, online activity of the firms can mitigate competitive pressure though new forms of product differentiation and usage of phantom strategies, phantom products, phantom plans. In order to increase their overall competitiveness, firms have elaborated an O2O (online-to-offline) business model that is allowed to utilize virtual and actual activity at the same time. Restaurant business, cosmetic industry, taxi deals are examples of its successful implementation. Is more competition better for consumers? This concept has been considered doubtful. Digital competitive pressure has led to a novel format of product differentiation, that is, targeted product design. Unlike traditional view in line with Salop circular model, contemporary firms choose product strategies that target as little individuals as possible. The less the circle of potential clients is, the less their price elasticity would be, and the weaker price rivalry might become. Traditional concept views competition as a Markov stochastic process. Contemporary analyses demonstrate more complicated nature of competitive mechanism. Online and offline innovations transform competition into non-linear process with “humps and jumps”, the outcomes of which are not always in the interests of consumers’ welfare.


Author(s):  
Aleksandra Krasnobaeva

The author gives attention to the most relevant and discussed question of international taxation – rules of direct taxation of corporate income in the conditions of digital economy. The subject of this research is the problems of taxation of corporations that use digital business models in their activity. The object of this research is the existing and proposed rules for corporate taxation. The relevance of this research is substantiated by the fact that the final proposals of OECD within the framework of Action of the BEPS plan, dedicated to the problems of taxation in the era of digital economy, are expected in the nearest future. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive research of the problems of direct taxation in the conditions of digital economy, their categorization, and concealment of causes contributing to their occurrence. The article presents substantiation to an original approach towards determining the problems in taxation of digital economy and development of measures aimed at resolving these problems. In course of research, the author argues the need to delineate problems in order to search for proper solutions. Defending the position of prematurity of introduction of measures regarding the problem of tax evasion and aggressive taxation planning by digital companies, the author refers to the absence of data on implementation of previous initiatives in this sphere that could demonstrate the degree of necessity for further measures.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Copjec

Regarded by many as the pre-eminent Islamicist of the twentieth century, Henry Corbin is also the subject of much criticism, aimed primarily at his supposed overemphasis on the mythological aspects of Islamic philosophy and his idiosyncratic privileging of the concept of the imaginal world. Taking seriously an unusual claim made by Steven Wasserstrom in Religion after Religion that the redeployment of Schelling's concept of tautegory by Corbin reveals all that is wrong with his work, this essay seeks to defend both the concept and Corbin's use of it. Developed by Schelling in his late work on mythology, the concept of tautegory turns out to be, for historical and theoretical reasons, a revelatory switch point. Not only does it make clear why the imaginal ‘locus’ is key to understanding the unity of God – the oneness of his apophatic and revealed dimensions – it also gives us profound insights into the links connecting Islamic philosophy, German Idealism, and psychoanalysis, which all take their bearings from the esoteric or mystical idea of an unconscious abyss.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 2225-2252
Author(s):  
E.V. Popov ◽  
V.L. Simonova ◽  
O.V. Komarova ◽  
S.S. Kaigorodova

Subject. The emergence of new ways of interaction between sellers and buyers, the formation of new sales channels and product promotion based on the use of digital economy tools is at the heart of improving the business processes. Social networks became a tool for development; their rapid growth necessitates theoretical understanding and identification of potential application in enterprise's business process digitalization. Objectives. We explore the role of social media in the digitalization of business processes, systematize the impact of social networks on business processes of enterprises in the digital economy. Methods. The theoretical and methodological analysis of social networks as a tool for digitalization of company's business processes rests on the content analysis of domestic and foreign scientific studies, comparison, generalization and systematization. Results. We highlight the key effects of the impact of social networks on the business processes of the company; show that the digitalization of business processes should be considered in the context of a value-based approach, aimed at creating a value through the algorithmization of company operations. We determine that social networks are one of the most important tools for digitalization of company's business processes, as they have a high organizational and management potential. We also systematize the effects of social media on company's business processes. Conclusions. We present theoretical provisions of the impact of social networks on business processes of enterprises, which will enable to model and organize ideas about the development of digital ecosystems and the formation of business models.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-20
Author(s):  
Farxod Tursunov ◽  

The article discusses the role of the digital economy in the development of the country, how it becomes the basis of the economy, new business models and management systems. The opinion of scientistsis analyzed, a definition of a digital enterprise is given


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Ya. Lukasevich

The subject of the research is new tools for business financing using the initial coin offering (ICO) in the context of the development of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technologies as their basis. The purpose of the work was to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the ICO in comparison with traditional financial tools as well as prospects, limitations and problems of using digital financial tools. Conclusions are made in relation to possibilities, limitations and application areas of digital business financing tools, particularly in the real sector, taking into account the specifics of the Russian economy and legislation. It is shown that the main problems of using the digital financial tools are related to the economic sphere and caused by the lack of adequate approaches to evaluation of assets as well as the shortage of objective information. The problems and new tasks of corporate finance in the digital economy are defined.


Transfers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Bell ◽  
Kathy Davis

Translocation – Transformation is an ambitious contribution to the subject of mobility. Materially, it interlinks seemingly disparate objects into a surprisingly unified exhibition on mobile histories and heritages: twelve bronze zodiac heads, silk and bamboo creatures, worn life vests, pressed Pu-erh tea, thousands of broken antique teapot spouts, and an ancestral wooden temple from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) used by a tea-trading family. Historically and politically, the exhibition engages Chinese stories from the third century BCE, empires in eighteenth-century Austria and China, the Second Opium War in the nineteenth century, the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the mid-twentieth century, and today’s global refugee crisis.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Auer ◽  
Geoffrey Manne ◽  
Aurélien Portuese ◽  
Thibault Schrepel

Author(s):  
Lexi Eikelboom

This book argues that, as a pervasive dimension of human existence with theological implications, rhythm ought to be considered a category of theological significance. Philosophers and theologians have drawn on rhythm—patterned movements of repetition and variation—to describe reality, however, the ways in which rhythm is used and understood differ based on a variety of metaphysical commitments with varying theological implications. This book brings those implications into the open, using resources from phenomenology, prosody, and the social sciences to analyse and evaluate uses of rhythm in metaphysical and theological accounts of reality. The analysis relies on a distinction from prosody between a synchronic approach to rhythm—observing the whole at once and considering how various dimensions of a rhythm hold together harmoniously—and a diachronic approach—focusing on the ways in which time unfolds as the subject experiences it. The text engages with the twentieth-century Jesuit theologian Erich Przywara alongside thinkers as diverse as Augustine and the contemporary philosopher Giorgio Agamben, and proposes an approach to rhythm that serves the concerns of theological conversation. It demonstrates the difference that including rhythm in theological conversation makes to how we think about questions such as “what is creation?” and “what is the nature of the God–creature relationship?” from the perspective of rhythm. As a theoretical category, capable of expressing metaphysical commitments, yet shaped by the cultural rhythms in which those expressing such commitments are embedded, rhythm is particularly significant for theology as a phenomenon through which culture and embodied experience influence doctrine.


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