Moving towards a Platformization of Global Production Networks? The case of Logistics

The increasing proliferation of digital platforms and their disruptive potential have been the subject of research in economic geography for several years. However, research on digital platforms in business-to-business relations and the investigation of digital platforms as new intermediaries in global production networks is still in its early stages. This study contributes to this emerging research field by examining the impacts of digital platforms on the organisational and spatial (re-)configurations of global production networks. The study focuses on the empirical case of the logistics sector and draws on interviews with various platform providers, up- and downstream companies and other experts active in European transport logistics. The results show that digital platforms (re-)configure productions networks of logistics differently depending on their roles within these networks, their power relations to other networks actors and their engagement with data assets. Furthermore, the study illustrates the increasing relevance of data and highlights the still under-researched interrelation between digital and physical dimensions in Global Production Network (GPN) research.