Classroom Companion: Business

Erik Bohlin
Editor-in-Chief, Telecommunications Policy
Professor in Technology Assessment
Department of Technology Management & Economics
Chalmers University of Technology
Göteborg, Sweden
April 14, 2021
Foreword

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Preface
This book is an introduction to digital economics. It is highly cross-disciplinary 
and draws upon knowledge from several academic disciplines such as telecommu-
nications, computer science, management science, business modeling, economics, 
and mathematics to explain the digital economy. To fully comprehend digital eco-
nomics, it is important to understand how the information and communication 
technology (ICT) is underpinning all digital businesses.
The six biggest companies by capitalization (by 2021) are all major stakeholders 
in the digital economy. The digital economy can no longer be ignored as an oddity 
in economy theory. On the contrary, the economics of digital goods and services 
has become a key element in the understanding of how the world economy works.
Several topics covered by this book are included in the curricula taught at sev-
eral business and economics schools around the world. This book is unique as it 
approaches topics in digital economics from a technology point of view. We believe 
that this is essential since digital economics is a result of the evolution of informa-
tion and communications technologies, and not vice versa.
The field of digital economics is complex and cannot be fully understood using 
theories from traditional micro-economics alone. It is necessary to adopt existing 
theories using knowledge from system dynamics, management science, and busi-
ness modelling.
We wrote this book to support the growing community of students and practi-
tioners with textbook material that links the theoretical foundations of digital eco-
nomics with practical examples and case studies.