1st Edition

Value Creation in Digital Platforms and Business Ecosystems Networks, Relationships and the Platform Markets

Edited By Victoria Slettli, Sabine Baumann Copyright 2026
316 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

316 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Digital platform organizations have become integral to everyday life, delivering services and products while reshaping entire industries. Yet platforms are only one manifestation of a broader phenomenon: digital business ecosystems. These ecosystems extend beyond single firms or platforms, encompassing networks of users, complementors, institutions, and infrastructures that together create,... Read more

1. Introduction

Victoria Slettli and Sabine Baumann

Part I - Platform-Based Organizations: Conceptualizations, Opportunities and Challenges for Value Creation         

2. Conceptual Foundations of Understanding Value Creation in Digital Business Ecosystems

Sabine Baumann and Victoria Slettli

3. The Digital Platform Company from a Schumpeterian Perspective

Tor Helge Pedersen

4. The Digital Shadow Economy: Threats and Challenges for the Information Ecosystems

Serghei A. Ohrimenco, Dinara R. Orlova and Valeriu Cernei

5. New Platform of Value Creation in the Age of AI

YangYang Zhao and Raissa Pershina

Part II - Platform Competition and Strategies for Value Creation

6. Digital Platform Strategies for Value Creation and Capture: Strategic Positioning and Competitive Dynamics in Network-Based Markets

Marvin Hanisch and Curtis Goldsby

7. Competition of Local Marketplaces in the Face of Global Rivals

Nicolas Friederici, Georg Reischauer and Vili Lehdonvirta

8. Sustainability and Value Creation of Transaction Platforms in Emerging Markets: A Comparative Analysis of On-Demand Grocery Platforms

Deniz Tunçalp, Sümeyye Yalçıner and Mustafa Kuzey

Part III: Business Models and Markets

9. From Bricks to Clicks: Intermediation and the Shift in Value Creation Through Digital Platforms in the Construction and Crafts Sector

Michael Dominic Harr, Tobias Wulfert, Hendrik Obertreis, Dustin Syfuß and Reinhard Schütte

10. Digital Technologies and the Generative Mechanisms Driving Value Creation in the Sharing Economy

Eric C. Mota, João Fernando Rossi Mazzoni and Peter G. Klein

11. Navigating Platform-Mediated Labor: A Mixed-Method Exploration of Worker Identity, Autonomy, and Governance

Wael (Lilo) Altali

12. From Monopoly Money to Regular Money: Converting Affective Value Into Monetary Value Through Player-Driven Economies on Gaming Platforms

Anne Mette Thorhauge

Part IV: Social Value Creation and Entrepreneurship

13. Social Platform Value: Processes of Social Value Creation Through Human Encounters

Katja Maria Hydle and Tale Skjølsvik

14. Digital Platforms, Artisan Female Migrant Entrepreneurs, and Social Value Creation: An Exploration in the Finnish Context

Pushpa Rani, Ahmad Arslan and Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen

15. Revolutionizing Retail: The Impact of Live Streaming Commerce on Business Growth and Consumer Engagement

Navid Ghannad and Anna Sörensson

Biography

Victoria Slettli is Associate Professor at Inland School of Business and Social Sciences at the University of Inland Norway.

Sabine Baumann is Professor for Digital Business at Berlin School of Economics and Law and Scientific Director at OFFIS Institute for Information Technology.

"This is a groundbreaking book that links previously understudied areas of research including digital platforms with business ecosystems. This book is amongst the first to highlight how the role of networks and other collaborative relationships has a positive effect on value creation. I highly recommend it."

Vanessa Ratten, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

"Platforms and apps are everywhere, but understanding how they create value remains elusive. In their cunning introductory handbook, Victoria Slettli and Sabine Baumann gathered the insights of experts and their own to reshape our views on value creation in digital business ecosystems. There is definitely a “before” and an “after” to the reading of that handbook!"

Myriam Ertz, Ph.D, CDMP, PCM, Full Professor in Marketing, Canada Research Chair in Technology, Sustainability and Society, Director of LaboNFC and Department of Economics and Administrative Sciences, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.