Digital Platforms as Second-Order Lead Firms: Beyond the Industrial/Digital Divide in Regulating Value Chains

Jaakko Salminen, Kevin B. Sobel-Read, Mika Viljanen, Klaas Hendrik Eller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Major parts of global trade in commodities and services are shifting to digital platforms. Yet, current regulatory debates surrounding global value chains (GVCs) and digital platforms are mostly siloed from each other. They share however the challenge of adjusting regulation to a novel mode of economic organization that breaks with our established cognitive frames in both law and economics. By consequence, we contend that both debates should be read in an interlinked manner – overcoming the industrial/digital divide. Digital platform operators should be understood as a ‘second-order lead firm’. To illustrate this, we assess the compatibility of the platform economy with the reigning model of GVC capitalism and its regulatory underpinnings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1059-1087
Number of pages29
JournalEuropean Review of Private Law
Volume30
Issue number6
StatePublished - Apr 2023
Externally publishedYes

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