GRAB & GO-JEK DRIVING THE DIGITAL STREET ECONOMY

2020

The digital age was born as a result of the development of information and communication technology. The sophistication of digital media provides space for the birth and development of a startup business and it is considered has provided many benefits and conveniences for the community, including in the field of transportation. Gojek is an online transportation business platform that can be well received by the community because it can provide solutions to transportation problems, especially for urban communities. Innovations that combine communication and information technology affect and change people's lifestyles and even shift the existence of online transportation because it is considered more practical. The success of Gojek at the same time proof that now the community is ready to switch into a new lifestyle, an all-digital lifestyle. Keywords: Technology, innovation, Gojek, lifestyle

2019

Set in a context of ubiquitous digitality, this thesis proposes to examine and conceptualise what is put forward as ‘street smart technology’, a novel assemblage of smartphone based technologies and the street economy in Southeast Asia. In order to delineate this novel form of technology, the study will develop a genealogical case study of two of its archetypes: ‘Grab’ and ‘GoJek’. Probing into their rearrangements of safety, temporality and mobility in everyday urban life, I argue that these digital ride hailing firms insert themselves into micro-frictions within metropolitan contexts and catalyse a new form of Taylorist industry. This widely emerging form of industry circulates capital and labour in the open streets of urban metropolises, and manifests an inverse trend in the labour markets of developed and developing economies. In Singapore, smartphone based platforms such as Grab and GoJek tend to catalyse the informalisation of labour practices through creating a mainstream precarious alternative to the formal economy, whereas in Indonesia, these platforms tend to formalise various aspects of an already prevalent and highly precarious ‘street economy’. I seek to follow and demonstrate the methodologies of mutual adaptation and constant negotiation of these digital platforms with the ‘street economy’ of Indonesia, proposing that Grab and GoJek’s contemporary pervasiveness in Southeast Asia is due to their ability to consolidate smartphone technology and the street economy into a unique business model. This study draws its methodology and theoretical approach from the disciplines of Anthropology and Political Economy and bridges the scholarship in the fields of Science and Technology Studies and Southeast Asian Studies, targeting to capture the socioeconomic flux and technological innovation underway in Singapore and Indonesia.

While there is little dispute that rural SMEs have much to gain from an effective engagement with e-commerce, the experience to date, particularly for firms operating in remote locations, points to considerable barriers to their involvement in the digital economy in the short term. Despite the considerable effort being made by the European Union to heighten the awareness of the need for peripherally located rural SMEs to become more involved in exploiting the economic potential of the digital economy, among the major barriers preventing such an involvement by rural SMEs is the difficulty of obtaining affordable high-speed internet access in remote locations in this era of liberalized telecommunications markets.

In August 2016, drivers delivering meals in London after being booked via the platforms 'Deliveroo' and 'UberEATS' made headlines by challenging working practices in the gig-economy through collective industrial action. Dissatisfaction resulted from extremely low levels of pay as well as a new payment calculation system being introduced without consultation. This indicates that the 'gig-economy' may not always constitute the smartest solution for those serving within it. However, it also highlights that collective industrial action is far from structurally impossible for workers in the 'gig-economy', even though management of labour relies on anonymous and automated micro-management through in-ternet platforms and apps. Indeed, collective organisation may seem the smartest solution for upgrading the gig-economy for its workers. This article develops an original contribution to the interface of smart technology in the gig-economy, collective labour rights, and EU competition law. We identify that EU competition law as interpreted by the Court of Justice would hinder collective organisation of those serving the gig-economy and develop a comprehensive re interpretation which allows adaptation of EU competition law to smart employment markets.

MIT Science Policy Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has hollowed out corporate office spaces in large US metropolitan centers, resulting in three potential downstream differential impacts: (1) on places, as demand for urban office spaces, commercial real estate, and housing have changed; (2) on profits, as small and local businesses in proximity to these office spaces depend on office workers and other foot traffic; and, (3) on people, as the livelihoods of many diverse but historically marginalized communities have been disproportionately affected. In this article, we examine these impacts, with downtown Seattle used as a case study to validate some urban trends. In leveraging data and technology-based approaches to assess and support urban vitality and equity goals, policymakers can explore the value of a Main Street data-driven analytical framework. Here, we explore how such a framework can support more targeted responses, including implementing technology policy initiatives that increase the digitalization o...

2019

Set in a context of ubiquitous digitality, this thesis proposes to examine and conceptualise what is put forward as ‘street smart technology’, a novel assemblage of smartphone based technologies and the street economy in Southeast Asia. In order to delineate this novel form of technology, the study will develop a genealogical case study of two of its archetypes: ‘Grab’ and ‘GoJek’. Probing into their rearrangements of safety, temporality and mobility in everyday urban life, I argue that these digital ride hailing firms insert themselves into micro-frictions within metropolitan contexts and catalyse a new form of Taylorist industry. This widely emerging form of industry circulates capital and labour in the open streets of urban metropolises, and manifests an inverse trend in the labour markets of developed and developing economies. In Singapore, smartphone based platforms such as Grab and GoJek tend to catalyse the informalisation of labour practices through creating a mainstream precarious alternative to the formal economy, whereas in Indonesia, these platforms tend to formalise various aspects of an already prevalent and highly precarious ‘street economy’. I seek to follow and demonstrate the methodologies of mutual adaptation and constant negotiation of these digital platforms with the ‘street economy’ of Indonesia, proposing that Grab and GoJek’s contemporary pervasiveness in Southeast Asia is due to their ability to consolidate smartphone technology and the street economy into a unique business model. This study draws its methodology and theoretical approach from the disciplines of Anthropology and Political Economy and bridges the scholarship in the fields of Science and Technology Studies and Southeast Asian Studies, targeting to capture the socioeconomic flux and technological innovation underway in Singapore and Indonesia.

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2004

The rapid transition towards a ''digital economy'' was enabled by a converging set of innovations. Computing saw the development of the semiconductor transistor, integrated circuit, personal computers (PCs), operating systems, and graphical interfaces. The physical layer of telecommunication was enabled via the emergence of optical fiber and new wireless communication technologies, while networking saw the development of the Internet (essentially packet switching) and the World Wide Web. These advances combined to realize a series of new applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) such as business software, e-mail, and e-commerce. However, progress seriously stumbled with the collapse of the dot com bubble, which among other things revealed a huge amount of misdirected investment that could have been used more productively. The question of the day is thus how to realize new ''killer apps'' to stimulate a new round of growth. The use of cell phones for communicating text, pictures, and video is a rapidly expanding area, but it seems unlikely that these applications will have a macroeconomic impact. Entertainment is a key industry whose fortunes are entwined with ICTs. Indeed, the application of ICT to innovating entertainment products is an important driver for the continued growth of the industry. Distribution of music and video via the Web could significantly stimulate demand but also raises the thorny question of how to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) of content providers. Another possible killer apps are interactive video-on-demand and telecalls/teleconferencing. The latter would, among other things, stimulate adoption of telework. The current Internet is capable of handing neither one-way transmissions of high-quality video nor interactive video-on-demand. There are bottlenecks both for the ''last mile'' connection from Internet service provider (ISP) to the home but also the ''first miles'' from originating server to ISP. The effective first miles bandwidth has not increased along with improvements in equipment, essentially because demand increases with capacity and thus traffic jams on the net continue. Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies over telephone wires, and possibly wireless networks, will play important roles in getting over the last mile hurdle. Upgrading the first miles will probably require new networking protocols beyond TCP/IP that support multimedia and also changes in the economic model of information transfer via the Net. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Jurnal Manajemen Bisnis, 2022

Research aims: This research aimed to design an effective approach in competing in the digital era, especially in the transportation sector. The approach in question begins with determining specific targets to be achieved, namely identifying Gojek's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with Grab as its business competition in Indonesia and the targeted market abroad. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research used Pearson Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT analysis, using survey data that can describe the decision-making of transportation services (decision tree) to create a TOWS matrix describing Gojek's current internal and external conditions. Research findings: The results revealed that the right bottom-up approach would make it easier for Gojek to address socio-cultural issues in Indonesia. The aspect of ease of use of online applications on Gojek becomes capital influencing good socio-cultural acceptability, and service approaches in the fo...

Journal of Urban Design, 2019

This paper surveys dynamics and trends that have influenced and continue to influence the three key tenants of American urban store-fronts: retailers, food services, and personal services. By connecting academic literature, economic statistics, and real estate and marketing industry reports, the article outlines what these three street-level industries can expect in the foreseeable future. E-commerce, the experience economy, the Maker Economy, and regulatory, cultural and demographic shifts will have a profound impact on American urban storefronts-but certainly not always a negative one. Urban designers have a key role in ensuring vibrant, inclusive and resilient commercial streets.

International Journal of E-Business Research, 2012

Conventional high street retailers face a multitude of challenges if they are to survive and thrive. Some of these difficulties arise from structural and economic issues; others may be sociological and demographic. However, to thrive, retailers must be perceived as being competitive, and must adopt innovative and invigorating strategies to maximise the potential of their situations while offsetting the limitations. In this paper, it is proposed that a judicious combination of low-cost Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could enable small retailers to harness the benefits of the information society and provide services congruent with the digital city concept. As an illustration of the issues involved, pertinent results from a systematic end-user evaluation of EasiShop are discussed.