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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this study is to integrate network externality and service quality as antecedents to the synthesis of expectation–confirmation model (ECM) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) in explaining customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms.

Sample data for this study were collected from students enrolled in a comprehensive university in Taipei, Taiwan. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed in various campus locations, and 510 usable questionnaires were analyzed in this study, with a usable response rate of 85.0%. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The primary findings are as follows. First, service enablers’ online service quality positively affected customers’ perceived usefulness (PU), confirmation and PEOU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which directly or indirectly explained customers’ satisfaction and continuance intention of the platforms. Next, service providers’ offline service quality positively influenced customers’ PU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which in turn caused customers’ satisfaction and continuance intention of the platforms. Finally, network externality from customers’ side and service providers’ side all positively affected customers’ PU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which in turn led to customers’ continuance intention of the platforms.

First, this study contributes to the identification of network externality and service quality that may reveal deep insights to the understanding of customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms greatly driven by their confirmation of expectations and satisfaction with the platforms. Next, the empirical evidence on capturing ECM and PEOU for completely explaining the antecedents of customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms is well documented. Hence, this study’s findings have significantly shed light on the possible formulation of a richer post-adoption model.

The purpose of this paper is to define the Internet as a virtual space supported by technologies and presented in the form of socioeconomic relations from the perspective of political economy. The Internet space is a unique virtual commodity different from ordinary commodities and has the following effect characteristics: super replicability, space- and time-transcendence, open-source shareability and reality–virtuality transformation.

Internet space can also be imagined as a piece of virtual land. Internet space can be deemed as a piece of virtual land and its value can be divided into labor value and virtual value. The pricing model of virtual value is mainly determined by the gain and discount rate and this value comes from the transfer and markup of social value. In the context of the Internet Plus era, Internet space has become an essential economic factor that influences human economic activities.

Therefore, it is of practical significance and theoretical value to introduce Internet space as an economic variable into the framework of economic theory. The realistic logic of Internet space is to influence human economic behaviors with the combination of information binding.

The theoretical mechanism is to have an impact on the micro-market price by changing market relations from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. Its path to functioning at the macro level is to influence economic behaviors by changing the expectations of investment and consumption, resulting in new economic trends.

The study aims to elaborate the author’s basic viewpoints on how economics should view the Internet from four aspects.

This paper reviews the existing literature on this topic, and summarizes key findings and conclusions of these researches.

The findings include four major contradictions in economics brought by the Internet, and 12 new changes in economics that needs to be addressed.

This paper provides a clear summary of existing studies on economics’ views of the internet and a prospect for future internet economy research.

Contends the Internet is a medium for commerce, marketing, advertising and distribution, as well as invention, entertainment and discussion. Reckons that on the Internet there is only on certainty – when creative destruction reigns it is business as usual. Concludes that succeeding in the global Internet economy is very difficult, and survival is far from assured.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underlying causes, scale and scope as well as the effects of piracy as a form of the shadow economy throughout Poland, drawing on the findings of secondary studies and author’s questionnaire survey conducted in summer 2013.

An online questionnaire survey was accomplished using the computer-assisted Web interview method and real-time sampling technique, in June 2013. The survey involved 1,000 persons aged 15 years and older.

Polish consumers use pirated content, products and services primarily for financial reasons: 73 per cent of respondents point out to high prices of original products, while more than half (56 per cent) points at low incomes of Polish consumers. A significant percentage of respondents (over one-third) indicates the easiness of access to pirated goods and services. The most common activity among Polish internet users is to copy pirated music files (almost 40 per cent of internet users admit to that) and films (including watching the series in the network to which approximately 35 per cent of respondents confess to). These two kinds of files are also copied the most often – about 20 per cent of the respondents copy them once a month or more often. One-fourth of the respondents admit to copying pirated computer programs. The findings from the survey reveal that young Polish internet users demonstrate a rather permissive attitude towards online piracy that involves downloading music files or video and sharing them with other network users.

The questionnaire survey did not cover all aspects of online purchasing behaviour of Polish internet users. The findings of the survey should be approached with some caution, given the intricate and sensitive nature of the research problématique.

Regulations regarding online purchases of goods and services are not attuned to the digital reality, which is exploited by online intermediaries. The research findings highlighted the motivational and behavioural aspects of Poles’ online consumer behaviour, thus providing useful tips to curb online piracy.

The implementation of relevant regulations to ensure respect and protection for intellectual property rights on the internet in Polish as well as EU legislation has acquired a rare immediacy and may reduce the scope of online piracy and other manifestations of shadow economy in the cyberspace.

An empirical insight into the online piracy among Polish internet users providing first-hand knowledge regarding their motivation and behavioural patterns.

The purpose of this chapter is to study the conceptual provisions of the theory of information economy and to determine its notion and essence.

The research methodology is based on the application of traditional methods of economic science, including the methods of systemic, problem, and comparative analysis, method of analysis of causal connections, systematization, classification, and formalization of scientific data.

The authors systematize the existing conceptual provisions of the theory of information economy and classify the conceptual approaches to its study as process approach, resulting approach, and combined approach; a comparative analysis of these approaches is also conducted.

The authors conclude that the evolutional development of modern socio-economic systems is dominated by the information economy concept, which should be the basis of the future developmental model of the global economic system. This concept develops within the combined approach, based on the previous concepts of digital economy and internet economy, which is a part of the process approach proclaiming technological capital, the key factor of reproduction, by focusing on the development of socio-economic systems and the concept of knowledge economy, which is a part of the resulting approach that emphasizes human capital and innovations as a target result of the development of economic systems. The information economy concept includes the features of previous concepts, emphasizes the importance of technological and human capital, applies information and communication technologies, and achieves results that are connected to highly effective creation, storage, distribution, and usage of information. It also supplemented them with a new sense of proclaiming information on the most valuable resources as well as provision of free and continuous interaction of economic subjects – the highest priority of socio-economic systems.

This paper aims to clear whether the monopoly structure of the internet industry has produced market power and discussed the welfare change of the internet industry monopoly.

By using new empirical industrial organization methods and taking the e-commerce market as an example, the authors measured market power and economies of scale of the internet platform companies.

Internet platform enterprises have formed scale economy, but it has not had market power, and the industry still maintains high levels of competition; also, the emergence of large enterprises may increase the welfare of consumers.

The conclusion of this paper clarified actual competition status of internet industry and provided a new foothold for regulation and ideas for the traditional industry to crack the Marshall Conflict.

By observing facts of the “reversal of agglomeration” of Chinese enterprises during the period of rapid Internet development and using a new economic geography model combined with the data of the real estate sector, this paper deduces the influence of the “reshaping mechanisms” of the Internet on China's economic geography based on the “gravitation mechanism” of the Internet that affects the enterprises and the “amplification mechanism” of the Internet that amplifies the dispersion force of house prices.

In the empirical aspect, the dynamic spatial panel data model is used to test the micromechanisms of the impact of the Internet on enterprises' choice of location and the instrumental variable method is used to verify the macro effects of the Internet in reshaping economic geography.

It is found that in the era of the network economy, the Internet has become a source of regional competitive advantage and is extremely attractive to enterprises. The rapidly rising house price has greatly increased the congestion cost and has become the force behind the dispersion of enterprises. China's infrastructure miracle has closed the access gap which gives full play to network externalities and promotes the movement of enterprises from areas with high house prices to areas with low house prices.

The Internet is amplifying the dispersion force of congestion costs manifested as house prices and is reshaping China's economic geography. This paper further proposes policy suggestions such as taking the Internet economy as the new momentum of China's economic development and implementing the strategy of regional coordinated development.

Many newly established Internet loss-making enterprises (NEILEs) are always willing to expand overseas within a very short time from their establishment. This phenomenon is becoming a hot research area. This paper aims to explore why these enterprises are always willing to expand overseas rapidly even if they are facing severe and persistent losses, and to study the different rapid internationalization modes and the international market entry ways for NEILEs.

This paper constructs a theoretical framework with the dual situation of negative attainment discrepancy and advantageous slack resources to explain the rapid internationalization of NEILEs. Furthermore, cross-case comparative analysis method, based on interviews, questionnaires and secondary data collection, is adopted to reveal the rapid internationalization modes and the international market entry ways of such enterprises.

Whether blocking competitors or seeking opportunities or both, NEILEs' goal of rapid internationalization depends on the severity and persistence of negative attainment discrepancy. When the severity and persistence of negative attainment discrepancy are very significant, moderate and mild, NEILEs choose sniper-type, opportunity-type and dual-type internationalization target mode in turn; it is very important for NEILEs to match advantageous slack resources and international market entry ways to achieve specific internationalization goals.

This paper enriches the understanding of NEILEs' transnational entrepreneurial behavior in the era of digital economy. The theoretical contribution of this paper is that the authors build a theoretical framework based on the logical starting point, the logical fulcrum and the logic ending point for understanding the rapid internationalization of NEILEs.

This study demonstrates that NEILEs can also expand into foreign markets according to their own characteristics. Undoubtedly, they need to choose appropriate internationalization target mode and international market entry way in line with the extent and duration of their losses, and their advantageous slack resources.

In this paper, the authors construct the rapid internationalization theory of NEILEs based on the dual situation of negative attainment discrepancy and advantageous slack resources in digital economy era. Moreover, the authors discover the behavioral characteristics and patterns of NEILEs' transnational entrepreneurship.