EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

Prague, Czechia

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

There have been attempts to view the Sharing Economy (as well as two-sided markets more generally) through NIE’s lens (e.g., Acquier 2018, Reimers, Guo, Li 2019, Tomassetti 2016, Davies, Sinha 2021). It has been, for instance, argued that in order to properly capture two-sided markets Williamson’s original trichotomy of hierarchies-hybrids-markets needs to be extended as they represent functional alternatives to those ‘traditional’ modes of governance (Reimers, Guo, Li 2019). In this regard, the authors come up with a classification of two-sided markets as instances of generic forms of governance structures and they distinguish between (i) online trading platforms , which are “the online version of traditional private exchanges” (Reimers, Guo, Li 2019, p. 11), (ii) online service delivery platforms which “combine managerial transactions and rationing similar to Williamson’s hierarchy” (ibid, p. 12), and (iii) supply chain management platforms (ibid, pp. 12–13). Uber was so considered to be the online service delivery platform and it was argued vis-à-vis it that: In contrast to hierarchically organized firms, rationing and managerial transactions are made with regard to platform members, not employees. For example, Uber uses algorithms to decide which vehicle is being sent to which client, based on various factors such as current location of vehicles, traffic situation, and caller preferences. That means that Uber uses managerial transactions to combine resources, in this case drivers, vehicles, and clients, to create a useful service, similar to production planning and control processes. In addition, Uber prescribes requirements for drivers, cars, and clients, and also sets prices, thus apportioning benefits and burdens among its members, i.e., it also conducts rationing transactions. (ibid., p. 12). Hence, the authors view “online service delivery platforms such as Uber as institutional alternatives to hierarchical governance” and also point out that such a treatment is corroborated by courts when they reclassify Uber partner drivers as employees even though there are obvious differences between the platform members and employees (ibid.). Another author summarizes that: “Peer-to-peer digital platforms constitute new organizational archetype in the landscape of organizations. For productive activities, there “market-organizations” differ radically from the managerial firm that has prevailed since the second industrial revolution, and which was the cornerstone of the existing regulatory framework of business. … From an organizational point of view, the rise of platforms marks the rebirth of the putting-out system, where digital tools are used as controlling devices. In this neo putting-out system, work is controlled though algorithms rather than managerial hierarchy, and power relationships are based on market power instead of hierarchical power. In this new economy, work situations are very diverse in terms of worker autonomy and economic dependence.” (Acquier 2018, p. 25).

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