Evolution of institutional forms of competitive relations: from the first to the fourth industrial revolution

Abstract

The active introduction of information and communication technologies has significantly accelerated the transformation of institutional forms, and methods and mechanisms of competition. Network structures of information platforms (IP) have replaced the value chains. In these conditions, the study of development patterns of the institutional principles of successful competition becomes especially relevant. The methodological basis of the study is based on the use of tools of dialectical, historical-genetic, structural, and complementary qualitative analysis. The evolution of key institutional forms of competition in the process of transition from the First to the Fourth Industrial Revolutions is studied. The peculiarities of the role and place of IP as a universal institution and business model that receives competitive advantages in the conditions of active dissemination of digital technologies are revealed. The structure, the main sections of classification and directions of IP activities are presented. The author reveals the connection of the mechanisms for ensuring the IP competitiveness with their complementarity to the conditions of digitalization. The complementary place in the environment of the competitive interaction of IP as a network institutional form of the epoch of informatization is substantiated. It displaces in competitive markets hierarchical structures that were complementary to the needs of the industrial economy era. It is shown that the introduction of IP as the leading institutional structure of the information economy causes radical changes in the directions, the mechanism of competition and the competition policy of the state.