Classroom Companion: Business

End users and buyers 
may put additional pressure on the companies, for example, by 
creating special interest groups which press for lower prices or better and more reli-
able products or for abandoning certain products altogether (examples from non-
digital markets are whale meat and furs). The buyers may also use new distribution 
channels. One example is that more and more people are making purchases over the 
Internet, thereby reducing the market for physical shops. Loyalty programs are some-
times instigated to reduce the bargaining power of the customers (e.g., bonus pro-
grams of airlines).
Since the use of social media and web browsing creates enormous amounts of 
data about the users of the service, the service provider may be able to extract infor-
mation about the user that may violate personal integrity protection laws or are 
regarded as ethically unacceptable. This may then cause users to switch to alterna-
tive suppliers or use the service in a way that is less profitable for the supplier. There 
have been reactions against Facebook for having misused customer trust 
(Confessore, 
2018
).
8.5 · Competitive Forces

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8
Suppliers 
in value chains deliver raw materials, components, or semi-finished prod-
ucts. Suppliers in the digital economy may provide technical support or services, for 
example, processing and mass storage, access to the Internet, software, content, or 
service supplements. The suppliers are in the position to bargain for prices, offering 
different qualities of service to different companies, control access to facilities and 
content, and so on. Net neutrality (see 
7
Chap. 
21
) delimits the capabilities that the 
Internet service providers have to discriminate against different users of the network.