Activity

[...] It would seem that these are asset-less companies; we might call them virtual platforms. Yet the key is that they do own the most important asset: the platform of software and data analytics. Lean platforms operate through a hyper-outsourced model, whereby workers are outsourced, fixed capita…

[...] While subscription models have been around for centuries, for example in newspapers, what is novel today is their expansion to new realms [...] Part of what has enabled these product platforms to flourish in recent years is the stagnation in wages and the decline in savings [...] seemingly ch…

[...] In one test factory from BASF SE [...] the assembly line is capable of individually customising every unit that comes down the line: individual soap bottles can have different fragrances, colours, labels, and soaps, all being automatically produced once a customer places an order. [...]

[...] if our online interactions are free labour, then these companies must be a significant boon to capitalism overall--a whole new landscape of exploited labour has been opened up. On the other hand, if this is not free labour, then these firms are parasitical on other value-producing industries …

[...] the important element is that the capitalist class owns the platform, not necessarily that it produces a physical product [...]