IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/cambje/v46y2022i6p1243-1268..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Big tech and platform-enabled multinational corporate capital(ism): the socialisation of capital, and the private appropriation of social value

Author

Listed:
  • Christos Pitelis

Abstract

I explore the relationship between theory and prediction in political economy and organisational economics, employing the works of Keith Cowling and Stephen Hymer as case examples of prediction-aiding good theory. I develop the insights of the two scholars by leveraging key ideas from classical economics and applying the result to the platform-enabled, market-assisted organisational economy. Based on that I suggest that the emergence and rise of platform-enabled Big Tech, unicorns and the ‘sharing economy’ are both aligned with and partly predictable. I go on to hazard some further predictions about the future of the corporation and capitalism and discuss research opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Christos Pitelis, 2022. "Big tech and platform-enabled multinational corporate capital(ism): the socialisation of capital, and the private appropriation of social value," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(6), pages 1243-1268.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:46:y:2022:i:6:p:1243-1268.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/beac042
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cowling, Keith & Sugden, Roger, 1989. "Exchange Rate Adjustment and Oligopoly Pricing Behaviour," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 13(3), pages 373-393, September.
    2. Christos N. Pitelis & David J. Teece, 2018. "The New MNE: ‘Orchestration’ Theory as Envelope of ‘Internalisation’ Theory," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 523-539, August.
    3. Coase, R. H., 1990. "The Firm, the Market, and the Law," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226111018, January.
    4. repec:bla:econom:v:43:y:1976:i:171:p:267-74 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jean-Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole, 2003. "Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 990-1029, June.
    6. Christos Pitelis, 2012. "Clusters, entrepreneurial ecosystem co-creation, and appropriability: a conceptual framework," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(6), pages 1359-1388, December.
    7. Nuno Ornelas Martins, 2015. "Interpreting the capitalist order before and after the marginalist revolution," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(4), pages 1109-1127.
    8. Nicolas Petit & David J Teece, 2021. "Innovating Big Tech firms and competition policy: favoring dynamic over static competition [Patterns of industrial innovation]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(5), pages 1168-1198.
    9. Cowling, Keith & Sugden, Roger, 1998. "The Essence of the Modern Corporation: Markets, Strategic Decision-Making and the Theory of the Firm," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 66(1), pages 59-86, January.
    10. George Argitis & Christos Pitelis, 2008. "Global Finance and Systemic Instability," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 27(1), pages 1-11.
    11. J. Robert Branston & Keith Cowling & Roger Sugden, 2006. "Corporate Governance and the Public Interest," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 189-212.
    12. Alfred D. Chandler, 1992. "Organizational Capabilities and the Economic History of the Industrial Enterprise," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 79-100, Summer.
    13. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    14. Pitelis, Christos, 2009. "The co-evolution of organizational value capture, value creation and sustainable advantage," MPRA Paper 23937, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Richard R. Nelson, 1991. "Why do firms differ, and how does it matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 61-74, December.
    16. David J. Teece, 2007. "Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(13), pages 1319-1350, December.
    17. Christos N. Pitelis, 2002. "Stephen Hymer: Life and the Political Economy of Multinational Corporate Capital," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 21(1), pages 9-26, December.
    18. John H Dunning & Christos N Pitelis, 2008. "Stephen Hymer's contribution to international business scholarship: an assessment and extension," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(1), pages 167-176, January.
    19. Christos N. Pitelis & David J. Teece, 2010. "Cross-border market co-creation, dynamic capabilities and the entrepreneurial theory of the multinational enterprise," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1247-1270, August.
    20. A. Michael Spence, 1977. "Entry, Capacity, Investment and Oligopolistic Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(2), pages 534-544, Autumn.
    21. Pitelis, Christos & Teece, David, 2009. "The (new) nature and essence of the firm," MPRA Paper 24317, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christos N. Pitelis & David J. Teece, 2018. "The New MNE: ‘Orchestration’ Theory as Envelope of ‘Internalisation’ Theory," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 523-539, August.
    2. Chris N. Pitelis, 2022. "Dynamic capabilities, the new multinational enterprise and business model innovation: A de/re-constructive commentary," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 741-753, June.
    3. Christos Pitelis, 2013. "Towards a More ‘Ethically Correct’ Governance for Economic Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 655-665, December.
    4. Andrea Coveri & Claudio Cozza & Dario Guarascio, 2021. "Monopoly Capitalism in the Digital Era," Working Papers in Public Economics 209, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    5. Jones, Geoffrey & Pitelis, Christos, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Imagination and a Demand and Supply-side Perspective on the MNE and Cross-border Organization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 309-321.
    6. Pitelis, Christos & Teece, David, 2009. "The (new) nature and essence of the firm," MPRA Paper 24317, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Christos N. Pitelis & David J. Teece, 2010. "Cross-border market co-creation, dynamic capabilities and the entrepreneurial theory of the multinational enterprise," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1247-1270, August.
    8. Teece, David J., 2010. "Technological Innovation and the Theory of the Firm," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 679-730, Elsevier.
    9. Dildar Hussain & Marijana Sreckovic & Josef Windsperger, 2018. "An organizational capability perspective on multi-unit franchising," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 717-727, April.
    10. Christos N. Pitelis, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Marta Gancarczyk, 2015. "Proces wzrostu przedsiębiorstwa w świetle podejścia zasobowego i teorii kosztów transakcyjnych," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5, pages 5-31.
    12. Lin, Hsing-Er & Hsu, I-Chieh & Hsu, Audrey Wenhsin & Chung, Hsi-Mei, 2020. "Creating competitive advantages: Interactions between ambidextrous diversification strategy and contextual factors from a dynamic capability perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Randhawa, Krithika & Wilden, Ralf & Gudergan, Siegfried, 2021. "How to innovate toward an ambidextrous business model? The role of dynamic capabilities and market orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 618-634.
    14. Vrontis, Demetris & Basile, Gianpaolo & Simona Andreano, M. & Mazzitelli, Andrea & Papasolomou, Ioanna, 2020. "The profile of innovation driven Italian SMEs and the relationship between the firms’ networking abilities and dynamic capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 313-324.
    15. Andreas Panagopoulos & Christos N. Pitelis, 2010. "Open innovation and the management of intra-firm conflict," International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(3/4), pages 295-307.
    16. Christos N. Pitelis & Pellumb Kelmendi, 2011. "European Industrial Policy: Perspectives, Trends and a Sustainability-focused New Framework," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume II, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Shi, Xianwei & Liang, Xingkun & Luo, Yining, 2023. "Unpacking the intellectual structure of ecosystem research in innovation studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    18. Riviere, Monica & Suder, Gabriele, 2016. "Perspectives on strategic internationalization: Developing capabilities for renewal," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 847-858.
    19. Baker, William E. & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Gattermann Perin, Marcelo, 2022. "Learning orientation and competitive advantage: A critical synthesis and future directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 863-873.
    20. Kapás, Judit, 1999. "Szükséges-e többdimenziós vállalatelmélet?. Az evolúciós vállalatelmélet kritikai összefoglalása [Is a multi-dimensional theory of the firm necessary?. A critical summary of the evolutionary theory," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(9), pages 823-841.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:46:y:2022:i:6:p:1243-1268.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/cje .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.