Themes of the Digital Economy

Don Tapscott argued that there are twelve themes that differentiate the digital economy from the old economy.

1. Knowledge
2. Digitization
3. Virtualization
4. Molecularization
5. Integration/Networking
6. Disintermediation
7. Convergence
8. Innovation
9. Prosumption
10. Globalization
11. Discordance
12. Immediacy

(a) Describe, using real-world examples, the following three themes from Tapscott's categorization: disintermediation, prosumption and discordance. [12 marks]

(b) Discuss how developments of the theme of prosumption links to the theme of disintermediation. In your answer, specifically refer to the application domains of sharing economy platforms (e.g. Airbnb, Uber). [8 marks]

(c) Discuss, using a real-world example, how building and sustaining competitive advantage in the digital economy has to consider the themes of immediacy and globalization. [6 marks]