Interaction between digital platforms and key stakeholders: A content analysis

Abstract

Digital platforms have become an integral part of modern business. Their success largely depends on how effectively the management team builds relationships with other platforms and stakeholders. However, many aspects of this interaction remain poorly studied. The paper aims to identify stakeholders and their interests that have the most profound effect on various types of business platforms. Stakeholder approach constitutes the methodological basis of the study. The main research method is qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The information base includes over 19,000 news texts from the largest news agencies for the period from April 1, 2020 to May 1, 2021, selected according to the platform typology used (advertising, cloud, food, lean platforms and marketplaces). As demonstrated in the study, “other” platforms, society and the state are most frequently mentioned among stakeholders. Having analyzed the texts referencing to “other” platforms, we found that the platform market was an ever-growing monopoly of several large players, while cloud and lean platforms were often mentioned together. The author proves the assumption that the world’s leading platforms usually share a common destiny (the impact of other stakeholders or environment on several platforms). Most platforms (excluding cloud platforms due to the specifics of their activities) are characterized by similar cooperation and competition values, which indicates the presence of coopetition. The research into public attitudes towards platforms revealed the predominance of neutral texts. However, negative messages prevail among emotionally colored messages, which indicates society’s precautious position to digital platforms.

Keywords

• digital platform
• stakeholders
• stakeholder approach
• coopetition
• content analysis