Big Tech Platforms: Technology, Power & Politics

About the course

Subjects

Strategy Globalisation Internationalisation Organisation

Course content

This course explores and questions how tech platforms change the world and the way humans live, play and work.

Amazon, Tencent and Netflix outcompete incumbent businesses and change the landscape of commerce and culture;

Facebook, Baidu and X challenge the media landscape; and

Uber, Didi and Zomato accelerate the gig economy and the way people work challenging traditional interests of labor unions.

Meanwhile, policymakers in Brussels, Beijing, Washington D.C. and other capitals struggle to keep pace with formulating and designing policies that keep up with the technological innovations of platforms.

This course will challenge your practical and intellectual senses. Practically, the course will equip you to understand the way tech platforms changes the way we trade, live, play and work. And intellectually, you will be part of a course not afraid of asking the big questions starting with "why" and "how" without definite answers.

See course description in course catalogue

What you will learn

In recent years, tech platforms emerge as some of the most powerful institutions on the planet impacting the markets for commerce, democracy, and labor along with the ways humans live, play and work. Multisided market platforms will likely influence your future career. So whether your objective will be to fight the power of tech platforms, observe them, or promote their businesses, the course will help you to:

Be familiar with theories regarding the constitution of multisided market platforms and their businesses and power.
Demonstrate knowledge about the dynamics between platform user groups and the markets for democracy, products and labor.
Analyze cases and situations of rapid technological change and their implications to government and civil society actors.
Assess policy interventions on tech platforms locally, nationally and internationally.

Course prerequisites

In recent years, multisided market platforms have become some of the world's most valuable and dominant companies. This is NOT a coding class, but your interest in the transformative nature of tech, platforms, and digitization will help you succeed in this course.

Facts

Level

Master

Type

Elective

ECTS

7.5

Code

CPOLV1024U

Teaching periods

Autumn – 1st quarter

Academic year

2025/2026

Status

Available places

Teaching language

English

Teaching Format

Hybrid

Exams

Written assignment
Individual exam, autumn

Assessment type

7 point grading scale