Philippe Eynaud, Corinne Vercher-Chaptal, Prosper Wanner. The countermovement in the digital economy : The travel sector midway between platform cooperativism and platform substantivism. Revue de l’Organisation Responsable, 2024, Vol. 19 (4), pp.11-25. ⟨10.3917/ror.194.0011⟩. ⟨hal-04937097⟩
The accelerating pace of the world has already been analysed in depth by studies of technology, its associated risks and the reification of the world it has spawned (Virilio, 1977; Rosa, 2013). Yet, within this general phenomenon, it seems to us that the digital transformation deserves particular attention given the new reach of the economic and societal upheavals it induces (Tapscott, 2014). An analysis of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic shows that e-commerce actors have largely succeeded in taking advantage of the situation (WTO, 2020). Their current hegemony shows an acceleration within the overall acceleration (OECD, 2020). Viewing themselves as disruptive, these actors claim to have a superior economic model and to belong to the collaborative economy. Relying on the existence of two-sided markets, these companies (known as platforms) propose to manage and execute the transactions on their sites in exchange for a commission. They are based on a digital infrastructure that enables them not only to act as an intermediary between different groups of users (clients, advertisers, producers, suppliers), but also to benefit from a privileged access to the data that is mainly collected using systems that monitor the users’ online activities (tracking, cookies, etc.). These data feed into user matching algorithms and, when analysed, enable companies to set up “nudges” or systems that exploit user behaviour. Bolstered by powerful network effects, some platforms enjoy a quasi-monopolistic position and threaten individual freedoms (Cardon, 2015)…