Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selective bibliography and examine the potential of the digital technologies, using an inter‐disciplinary literature survey that will contribute to academic and practical knowledge with regard to the understanding of the emerging forms of doing business and competition together with their developmental implications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines a survey of a collection of papers that have been published before and after the new economy bubble. These writings then are classified under two main headings: the views of the (new) digital economy proponents and the sceptics. These two opposing approaches are compared and contrasted through the use of five sub‐sections: conceptualisation, driving force, spatial/developmental implications, industrial impacts of the digital economy, epistemological/methodological foundations.
Findings
The paper finds that claims about the world economy entering into a new phase of a virtuous capitalism or a new international division of labour are over‐exaggerated. A more balanced approach should take into consideration both the dynamics of change and continuity without underestimating the future potential of digital technologies.
Originality/value
This paper offers a critical assessment of the digital economy, based on an inter‐disciplinary literature survey that brings together pieces of work that have previously been analysed largely in a separate manner.