DIGITAL BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM AND DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRBNB COMPANY

Abstract

Digital ecosystems are the reality of modern business. More and more businesses are starting online, and on the other hand, existing businesses are turning to the digital way of doing business. This trend is particularly present in the market after the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus, which greatly affected the global economy. Given that it has been proven that efficiency becomes greater as more companies in the supply chain join together, it is no wonder that more and more attention is being paid to ecosystems in business, and today specifically to digital ecosystems. They are actually an upgrade of business ecosystems that are also a modern creation. Today, in addition to achieving efficiency, we must also talk about creating an adequate competitive position on the market through innovative business. Innovative company behavior is highly desirable, but often unfeasible from the perspective of a single company. It requires large investments in the human factor and technology, the implementation of research and development activities, and the creativity of employees. It also implies the willingness to accept the risk of potential failure, but also the flexibility to reorient the company to another alternative in time. Innovative business certainly implies the use of modern digital technologies, and above all knowledge of the rules of digital marketing. Every modern company, in addition to its own website, which is the identity card of the company, must have and run its own social networks and thus communicate with its consumers - existing and potential. Companies that are members of a digital ecosystem must have appropriate applications and an interface that enables a positive user experience and easy connection with other members of the digital ecosystem. The question arises, why are business ecosystems being created, and today more often digital ecosystems? The answer is simple – in order to enable companies to join together in order to achieve a greater competitive advantage. However, people's awareness of the importance of digital business is still far from desired. Despite the widespread use of the Internet, a large number of businesses and people still use traditional methods of connecting and communicating. In this way, a large amount of energy, time and money is wasted, and creativity is lost. The innovative behavior of one company in the ecosystem will affect the innovative behavior of the entire ecosystem. The efficiency of all members of the ecosystem will be higher, if the efficiency of the ecosystem has increased. One of the most famous digital business ecosystems is Airbnb, whose business will be explained in this paper. The aim of the paper is to point out the importance of business ecosystems in the era of digitization, but also to point out the advantages and disadvantages of this way of networking companies, with reference to the digital marketing strategy of the Airbnb company.