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Purpose Using the lens of Uber’s digital workers in Paris, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the trust-building mechanism is constructed between a digital platform and its digital workers in a foreign market entry. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study based on empirical data from in-depth interviews with 35 Uber drivers. A cross-disciplinary literature framework from mainly international business and internet geography theory and a reflexive qualitative methodology are applied. Findings Results show that the relationship between the digital platform and the digital workers is characterized by mistrust and suffers from decreasing commitment levels soon after market entry. Uber mitigates its mistrust via control and scarce mechanisms. The digital drivers’ “illusionary freedom”, a state in which they feel they can log on and log off at any time, enables the digital platform to gradually lower its commitment. The authors find that the mistrust does not seem to hamper the digital platform’s business performance. Research limitations/implications The paper mainly covers the digital workers’ perspective and the case of Uber’s market entry in Paris. Social implications This paper implies that digitally conveyed control seems to come at the cost of lowered human trust. Given the pace at which digital control systems are permeating society, this could eventually lower the whole societal trust level. Originality/value The authors criticize incumbent international business theory for not being sufficiently able to explain a contemporary digital business logic and the authors challenge the general assumption that successful internationalization is built through trust. The authors contribute with the conceptualization of a new technical market entry mode for digital platforms – “digitally controlled proxies”.

This paper argues the case for combining international business theory and economic geography theory in order to understand the new rules of competition for both multinational corporations (MNCs) and regions in the globalising knowledge-based economy. Sweden serves as a case study to illustrate the shifts of sectors and people skills that have paved the way for the transformation of the Swedish economy that has occurred over the last 15 years. Combining international business theory with that of economic geography produces the possibility of developing a conceptual framework for explaining the new dynamics and interaction that are occurring between people-place-firm. The enhanced importance of people and place, shifting pace, complex networks of production, and new balances of power together lead to changing practices and strategic implications for both MNCs and regions competing in the globalising knowledge-based economy. Copyright (c) 2010 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.

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