Digital platforms are a technology-enabled transactional tool that facilitates connections between stakeholders. Their features are consistent with network theory applications where stakeholders are the nodes rotating around the platform. Platforms may be considered a new virtual stakeholder that, consistently with network theory, connects conventional partners (shareholders, managers, employees, lenders, clients, suppliers, etc.), representing a bridging node and edge in multilayer networks. Stakeholders are nodes that interact around the bridging (hub) node, sharing information, and co-creating value within a sustainable digital ecosystem. Shared information is fueled in real-time by big data and reduces asymmetries and risk, redesigning information systems. Corporate governance and managerial implications emerge as a critical, still under-explored issue.
Keywords: Theory of the firm, Digital Information Systems, Scalability, Ecosystem, Digital Governance, Multilayer Network, Sustainability.
Moro Visconti, R. (2020). Corporate governance, digital platforms, and network theory: information and risk-return sharing of connected stakeholders, Management Control, n. 2, pp. 179-204, DOI:10.3280/MACO2020-002009