The Creative Economy in Local Territories: Alibaba and Amazon in Territorial Competition, but Ideological Synergy to Bypass Democratic Governance
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Alibaba and Amazon now dominate global e-commerce. Although their strategies partly differ, they are both territorializing their activities around sorting hubs and warehouses. This often creates tensions in local territories. In our research exploring the effects of these strategies, conducted in France and Belgium from 2019 to 2022, we hypothesized that the impacts of the digital industrialization of local and global trade go beyond sales and logistics; the concentration of these markets in the hands of two ultra-dominant actors reflects unequal power relations that are reconfiguring governance, public decision-making, and democracy, notably by obscuring the major challenges that territories face.
Authors: Bruno Lefèvre, Louis Wiart
Institutions: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402851524