Cristina Alaimo , is the Assistant Professor of Digital Economy and Society at Guido Carli University in Rome, Italy and soon to be Associate Professor at ESSEC Business School in France. Her research focuses on innovation catalyzed by data-based services and the consequences it has on organizations and society. Cristina also studies the broader ecosystem of data exchanges in which digital platforms are embedded and how these new platform ecosystems emerge and evolve. In her recently released book, DATA RULES: Reinventing the Market Economy , Cristina and her co-author Jannis Kallinikos, dive deep into the unprecedented social and economic restructuring brought about by data. In this episode, we discuss: The fascinating history and role of data in our society—well before even the tech boom, with its origins in writing itself How many of the social constructions that we know of, even our own digital identities, are shaped and created by data The four functions of data—and how business ecosystems are evolving the traditional functions to create new business models and value chains What business leaders need to know to seize the new opportunities the evolution of data is creating, even breaking out of the traditional concepts of industries of business as we know it today _______________________________________________________________________________ Episode Timeline: 00:00 —Highlight from today's episode 1:01 —Introducing Cristina + the topic of today’s episode 2:55 —If you really know me, you know that... 3:48 —What's your definition of strategy? 04:52 —The historical function of data 08:40 —The link between data and institutions 11:55— The interrelation between data and writing 15:12 —The four functions of data 18:08 —The data making process 22:43 —Data's impact on ecosystems and platforms 26:38 —TripAdvisor case study 30:25 —Redefining industry concepts 33:02 —Future of competitive advantage 37:44 —How can people follow you and continue learning from you? _______________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Resources: Link to book: DATA RULES: Reinventing the Market Economy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinaalaimo/ X: https://x.com/cristina_alaimo Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening. Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast
