#123—Christina Alaimo: The Hidden History of Data and its Role in Modern Strategy

Outthinkers

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

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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?
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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. Thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.
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