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Dear colleagues,
Electronic Markets is inviting submissions for a Special Issue on "Geopolitics and Business Models". Please find further details below.
Call for Papers: "Geopolitics and Business Models"
Submission deadline: March 31, 2026
Guest Editors
* Prof. Timmers, Paul, KU Leuven, Belgium, paul.timmers@kuleuven.be
* Prof. Zysman, John, UC Berkeley, USA, zysman.john@gmail.com
* Dr. Guggenberger, Tobias Moritz, Fraunhofer ISST and TU Dortmund University, Germany, tobias.moritz.guggenberger@isst.fraunhofer.de
* Dr. Biswas, Baidyanath, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, BISWASB@tcd.ie
Theme
Trade sanctions, data sovereignty rules and export-control "kill-switches" are forcing platform operators, digital marketplaces and their ecosystem partners to rethink how they create and capture value-while novel platform- or data-driven business models themselves are becoming instruments of geopolitical bargaining and influence (Casas, 2024; Möller et al., 2024; Shen & He, 2022). Understanding this two-way interplay is critical for organizations to build capabilities to thrive or reposition themselves within today's geopoliticized digital economies.
Increasingly, digital assets such as intellectual property, data, AI models, and critical digital infrastructures are not only business resources but also instruments of national power. Such 'weaponization' of business assets through export restrictions (e.g., Freifeld, 2025), IP sanctions (e.g., Welle, 2018), access control sanctions (e.g., Swift and Sanctions, n.d.), or targeted cyber operations (CISA, n.d.) has become a defining feature of geopolitical conflict. In response, governments and firms across the world are taking steps to strengthen strategic autonomy, notably in the digital space (Timmers, 2023): investing in digital infrastructures, establishing data localization obligations, and tightening controls on cross-border tech transfers (Draghi, 2024; Guggenberger et al., 2025). These developments raise urgent questions about how companies secure their supply chains, protect their most valuable assets, and maximize shareholder value in geopolitically fragmented marketplaces.
Technological innovation has become a central axis of geopolitical competition. Nations are increasingly aligning their strategic priorities around emerging technologies-artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), cloud infrastructure, the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G/6G connectivity, blockchain, and quantum technologies. These technologies are both transforming economies and redefining global power structures (Schmidt, 2023). For instance, quantum research is now a strategic priority, with countries seeking early advantages in security and computational power. Meanwhile, disruptions to semiconductor supply chains have exposed critical dependencies, prompting efforts toward the development of technological alternatives, decoupling and reshoring. Control over foundational technologies increasingly equates geopolitical influence.
Central issues and topics
This special issue invites research that uncovers how geopolitical dynamics transform digital business models, electronic markets, digital platforms and networks. This includes how business ecosystems based on digital networks and platforms, such as supply chains and business value networks, change due to geopolitical forces. Research may employ any rigorous theoretical or methodological lens, within the journal's scope. Illustrative topics include but are not limited to:
- Business assets as geopolitical instruments-how platform designs, pricing schemes, IP or data-access rules are leveraged to negotiate tariffs or standards
- Protection, redeployment or "weaponization" of core assets (data, IP, talent, physical facilities)
- Digital technology and platform developments in relation to strategic autonomy and data space diplomacy (alternative clouds, payment networks, common data spaces, etc.)
- Corporate-diplomacy capabilities: lobbying coalitions, sectoral standard-setting, data space governance aimed at elevating corporate geopolitical standing
- Antecedents, outcomes and moderators of business-model innovation under geopolitical stress
- Platform governance under geopolitical pressure (e.g., data localization, content controls, algorithmic compliance)
- AI and analytics for geopolitical sense-making and simulation of platform vulnerabilities and opportunities
- Network restructuring and value migration (near-/friend-shoring, modular unbundling of services)
- Capabilities-perspectives on how organizations sense the geopolitical environment (e.g., business intelligence, forecasting), adapt their network and supply chain structures and processes (e.g., resilience, agility, redesign), and influence external conditions (e.g., standards-setting)
Submission
Submissions should be original, unpublished, and not under consideration at any other journal. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are welcome, provided the research exhibits strong methodological rigor. Contributions can take the form of conceptual and theoretical development papers, empirical hypothesis testing, position papers, case-based studies, and more. All papers will undergo a double-blind peer-review process. Submissions must be made via the journal's submission system (https://www.editorialmanager.com/elma/) and comply with the journal's formatting standards. The preferred average article length is approximately 10,000 words, excluding references. Instructions, templates, and general information are available at www.electronicmarkets.org/authors/general-information/. If you would like to discuss any aspect of this special issue, you may either contact the guest editors or the Editorial Office.
Keywords
Geopolitics, Business Models, Digital Sovereignty, Strategic Autonomy, Digital Ecosystems.
Important deadline
* Submission Deadline: March 31, 2026
References
America's Cyber Defence Agency [CISA]. (n.d.). Nation-State Threats. CISA. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/nation-state-cyber-actors
Casas, A. (2024). The Geopolitics of Deplatforming: A study of suspensions of Politically-Interested Iranian accounts on Twitter. Political Communication, 41(3), 413–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2306503
Draghi, M. (2025). The Future of European Competitiveness-A Competitiveness Strategy for Europe. In https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/draghi-report_en. European Union. https://doi.org/10.2872/9356120
Freifeld, K. (2025, May 29). US curbs chip design software, chemicals, other shipments to China. Reuters. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-tells-us-chip-designers-stop-selling-china-ft-reports-2025-05-28/
Guggenberger, T. M., Langdon, C. S., & Otto, B. (2025). Data spaces as meta-organizations. European Journal of Information Systems, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085x.2025.2451250
Möller, F., Jussen, I., Springer, V., Gieß, A., Schweihoff, J. C., Gelhaar, J., Guggenberger, T., & Otto, B. (2024). Industrial data ecosystems and data spaces. Electronic Markets, 34(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-024-00724-0
Schmidt, E. (2023). Innovation Power: Why Technology Will Define the Future of Geopolitics. Foreign Affairs, 102(38).
Shen, H., & He, Y. (2022). The geopolitics of infrastructuralized platforms: the case of Alibaba. Information Communication & Society, 25(16), 2363–2380. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2022.2128599
Swift and sanctions. (n.d.). Swift. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://www.swift.com/about-us/legal/compliance-0/swift-and-sanctions
Timmers, P. (2023). Sovereignty in the Digital Age. In Introduction to Digital Humanism (pp. 571–592). Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45304-5_36
Welle, D. (2018, March 22). US to sanction China over intellectual property. dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/trump-to-announce-trade-sanctions-against-china-for-intellectual-property-theft/a-43075949
Best regards,
Rainer Alt, Mathias Klier, Maria Madlberger, Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Ramona Coia
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Electronic Markets - The International Journal on Networked Business
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Editor-in-Chief: Rainer Alt, Leipzig University
Co-Editors: Mathias Klier, Ulm University; Maria Madlberger, Webster Vienna Private University; Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences
Executive Editor: Ramona Coia, Leipzig University
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Electronic Markets
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