Preface: Global Meets Local

Abstract

When people explain what “Digital” really means, they typically mention large global brands like Facebook, Amazon, Google or Twitter as the example. Certainly, these assets combine a lot of market power, customers, and innovation, and their sheer size is already a competitive advantage. Following these leading firms in their respective categories, many other companies have joined their ecosystems and benefit from the associated value. However, like in the traditional non‐digital world, next to global brands the world provides a lot of space for local brands, niche players and startups.

New digital business models are making use of platforms that provide value to diverse participants, and this applies globally as well as locally. Global trends, such as the partial convergence of the automotive, car rental, transport and tourism industries into what we now call simply “mobility”, are affecting local markets and national systems. The way how we get from A to B is changing, based on a combination of factors that are all contributing: generation Y being less keen to own a car, traditional traffic systems being overloaded or over‐polluted, car sharing business models being well accepted, train and flight operators attempting to offer better end‐to‐end solutions, and new taxi services being based on convenient booking platforms.