Opportunities for building effective digital platforms and ecosystems in developing countries

Abstract

The factors and opportunities for development of digital ecosystems in developing countries have been analysed. The purpose of the study is to summarize the practice of digitalization of emerging markets and to develop an approach to research of the potential for digital entrepreneurship development in these countries. It has been shown, that there are still many economic constraints that prevent developing countries from integrating effectively into the digital economy. It has been proven, that the effect of digital transformation vectors assists redefining the economic policy of developing countries. Such policy should become trans- and multidisciplinary, more iterative and flexible. In particular, investment promotion methods, rules of origin and other geographical specifications, labor and social policies of the states should be interpreted in a new way. Finally, economic policy should take into account, that many markets are being reoriented to platforms (which, for example, may involve a review of public service delivery policies to take advantage of platforms). It has been substantiated, that the development of digital entrepreneurship in developing countries was largely due to the quality of digital ecosystems, which can be presented as innovation centers, but it is hampered by the uneven development of digital start-ups between countries. It has been concluded, that even with opportunities to build digital platforms and ecosystems in developing countries, their companies can`t scale widely to overseas markets, and catching-up platforms have almost no potential to reach global platforms in the long term. The main factors, limiting the comparative size of platforms and the potential of global platforms in developing countries are weak local economic and business environment, low reliability of payment systems, low technological potential, problems with efficient logistics.