ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with some insights on the macroeconomic shift in businesses from the industrial era to the digital era and then follows with some perspectives for airlines on both opportunities and dilemmas when it comes to adapting to the high customer service and experience bar set by businesses such as Amazon and Apple. The shift from physical to digital assets is coupled with a migration from physical technologies to digital technologies. In the digital era, capital has been moving from traditional businesses to the new platform-based and networked businesses. The availability of digital technology facilitated the development of user-generated content. Platform-based businesses are technology-driven and focused on innovation from the outside in to create new value for consumers and for businesses. Platform businesses are facilitated by such technology services as the cloud, and these services enable the Internet of Things (IoT) to operate in almost real time.
