IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/stusoi/201701.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration - competition - innovation strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Dolata, Ulrich

Abstract

Based on a systematic review and evaluation of business reports, documents, statistics, literature and press releases, this paper analyzes the market concentration and the expansion and innovation strategies of the leading internet companies Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. The findings invalidate any claims that a decentralization of the market and a democratization of the internet is taking place, or that research, development and innovation processes are becoming more open and collaborative. The five examined companies, as the operators of the core infrastructures of the worldwide web, shape the overall products and services offer of the internet, determine access to the web, structure the communication possibilities for users, and are the main drivers of innovation in this field. Not decentralization, democratization and open innovation, but market concentration, control and power struggles are categories to adequately describe the fundamental dynamics of the commercial internet.

Suggested Citation

  • Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration - competition - innovation strategies," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:stusoi:201701
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/152249/1/880328606.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dolata, Ulrich & Schrape, Jan Felix, 2014. "Masses, crowds, communities, movements: Collective formations in the digital age," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2014-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    2. Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, 2002. "Some Simple Economics of Open Source," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 197-234, June.
    3. Dahlander, Linus & Gann, David M., 2010. "How open is innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 699-709, July.
    4. Kungl, Gregor & Geels, Frank W., 2016. "The destabilisation of the German electricity industry (1998-2015): Application and extension of a multi-dimensional framework," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2016-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    5. Neukirch, Mario, 2014. "Konflikte um den Ausbau der Stromnetze: Status und Entwicklung heterogener Protestkonstellationen," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2014-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    6. Paul Trott & Dap Hartmann, 2009. "Why 'Open Innovation' Is Old Wine In New Bottles," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 715-736.
    7. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2016. "Open-Source-Projekte: vom Nischenphänomen zum integralen Bestandteil der Softwareindustrie," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 69(8), pages 603-612.
    8. Haucap Justus & Wenzel Tobias, 2011. "Wettbewerb im Internet: Was ist online anders als offline?," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 60(2), pages 200-211, August.
    9. Radig, Ann-Kathrin, 2015. "Der Wandel des deutschen Videoverleihmarktes durch Digitalisierung und Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2015-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    10. Joel West & Siobhan O'mahony, 2008. "The Role of Participation Architecture in Growing Sponsored Open Source Communities," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 145-168.
    11. Dolata, Ulrich, 2011. "Wandel durch Technik: Eine Theorie soziotechnischer Transformation," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 73, number 73.
    12. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2015. "Open Source Softwareprojekte zwischen Passion und Kalkül," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2015-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    13. Pollock Rufus, 2010. "Is Google the Next Microsoft: Competition, Welfare and Regulation in Online Search," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(4), pages 1-31, December.
    14. 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.
    15. Dolata, Ulrich & Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2013. "Zwischen Individuum und Organisation: Neue kollektive Akteure und Handlungskonstellationen im Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2013-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    16. Freeman, C., 1991. "Networks of innovators: A synthesis of research issues," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 499-514, October.
    17. Viktor Braun & Cornelius Herstatt, 2008. "The Freedom-Fighters: How Incumbent Corporations Are Attempting To Control User-Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(03), pages 543-572.
    18. Werle, Raymund, 2011. "Institutional analysis of technical innovation: A review," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2011-04, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    19. Georg Schreyögg & Jörg Sydow, 2010. "CROSSROADS---Organizing for Fluidity? Dilemmas of New Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(6), pages 1251-1262, December.
    20. Joel West & Karim Lakhani, 2008. "Getting Clear About Communities in Open Innovation," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 223-231.
    21. Dolata, Ulrich, 2011. "Radical change as gradual transformation: Characteristics and variants of socio-technical transitions," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2011-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    22. Evans David S., 2008. "The Economics of the Online Advertising Industry," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(3), pages 1-33, September.
    23. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2016. "Social media, mass media and the 'public sphere': Differentiation, complementarity and co-existence," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2016-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    24. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 461.
    25. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2011. "Der Wandel des Buchhandels durch Digitalisierung und Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2011-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    26. Justus Haucap & Ulrich Heimeshoff, 2014. "Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay: Is the Internet driving competition or market monopolization?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 49-61, February.
    27. Roijakkers, Nadine & Hagedoorn, John, 2006. "Inter-firm R&D partnering in pharmaceutical biotechnology since 1975: Trends, patterns, and networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 431-446, April.
    28. Frank T. Rothaermel, 2001. "Incumbent's advantage through exploiting complementary assets via interfirm cooperation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 687-699, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christine Reidhead, 2020. "A review of businesses that focus on markets vs. businesses that focus on products in association with market orientation," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 11(1), pages 203-209, September.
    2. Dipankar Das, 2023. "A Model of Competitive Assortment Planning Algorithm," Papers 2307.09479, arXiv.org.
    3. Katja Kalkschmied & Joern Kleinert, 2024. "Market building by strategic interactions: The role of powerful private actors and the state," Graz Economics Papers 2024-12, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    4. Joshua B Cohen, 2022. "Institutionalizing public engagement in research and innovation: Toward the construction of institutional entrepreneurial collectives [Limits of Decentered Governance in Science-society Policies]," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(5), pages 673-685.
    5. Yun, JinHyo Joseph & Ahn, Heung Ju & Lee, Doo Seok & Park, Kyung Bae & Zhao, Xiaofei, 2022. "Inter-rationality; Modeling of bounded rationality in open innovation dynamics," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    6. Damásio, Bruno & Mendonça, Sandro & Silva, Eduardo, 2023. "Developing science and technology – the role of Big Tech," 32nd European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2023: Realising the digital decade in the European Union – Easier said than done? 277951, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Dimitrios VALSAMIDIS & Dimosthenis PAPPAS & Vasilios FERELIS & Michael NIKOLAIDIS, 2018. "Best Strategies For The Ideal Business Model," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 17(1), pages 24-38.
    8. Nagwan AlQershi & Sany Sanuri Mohd Mokhtar & Zakaria Abas, 2022. "The influence of structural capital on the relationship between CRM implementation and the performance of manufacturing SMEs," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(3), pages 1205-1218, June.
    9. Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Social movements and the Internet: The sociotechnical constitution of collective action," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    10. Jingxing Zhang, 2022. "Impact of Manufacturing Servitization on Factor Productivity of Industrial Sector Using Global Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.

    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. Dolata, Ulrich, 2014. "Märkte und Macht der Internetkonzerne: Konzentration - Konkurrenz - Innovationsstrategien," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2014-04, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    2. Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Technological innovations and the transformation of economic sectors: A concise overview of issues and concepts," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2018-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    3. Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Social movements and the Internet: The sociotechnical constitution of collective action," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    4. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2017. "Open source projects as incubators of innovation: From niche phenomenon to integral part of the software industry," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    5. Dolata, Ulrich, 2018. "Privatisierung, Kuratierung, Kommodifizierung: Kommerzielle Plattformen im Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2018-04, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    6. Dolata, Ulrich, 2020. "Internet – Plattformen – Regulierung: Koordination von Märkten und Kuratierung von Sozialität," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2020-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    7. Kropp, Cordula, 2018. "Sustainable innovations: Theories, conflicts and strategies," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2018-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    8. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2019. "Technology and the promise of decentralization: Origins, development, patterns of arguments," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2019-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    9. Schreyer, Jasmin, 2020. "Sharing ≠ Sharing Economy: Ausprägungen der digitalen Sharing Economy im Lebensmittelsektor," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2020-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    10. Fettke, Ulrike, 2018. "Etablierte und Außenseiter in der Kommunalpolitik? Eine Fallstudie zu Windkraft in einer badenwürttembergischen Kleinstadt," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2018-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    11. Kungl, Gregor & Geels, Frank W., 2016. "The destabilisation of the German electricity industry (1998-2015): Application and extension of a multi-dimensional framework," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2016-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    12. Dolata, Ulrich & Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2022. "Platform architectures: The structuration of platform companies on the Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2022-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    13. Dreher, Marc, 2023. "Organisation und Ideologie des Transhumanismus: Historisch-soziologische Rekonstruktion einer Pioniergemeinschaft," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2023-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    14. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2016. "Social media, mass media and the 'public sphere': Differentiation, complementarity and co-existence," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2016-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    15. Dolata, Ulrich, 2020. "Internet – Platforms – Regulation: Coordination of Markets and Curation of Sociality," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2020-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    16. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2021. "Platformization, pluralization, synthetization: Public communication in the digital age," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2021-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    17. Dolata, Ulrich, 2020. "The digital transformation of the music industry. The second decade: From download to streaming," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2020-04, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    18. Dolata, Ulrich & Schrape, Jan Felix, 2014. "Masses, crowds, communities, movements: Collective formations in the digital age," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2014-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    19. Kungl, Gregor, 2014. "The incumbent German power companies in a changing environment: A comparison of E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall from 1998 to 2013," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2014-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    20. Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2024. "Distributed innovation processes: Key concepts, case studies, current developments," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2024-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:stusoi:201701. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/soz/oi/index.html .

    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.