From Shanghai to Silicon Valley: Maggie Chen on Digital Trade Transformation

Posted in News  |  Tagged ,

On April 30, the Center for Business and Public Policy (CBPP) at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business welcomed Professor Maggie Chen, a leading expert in international economics and trade policy, for a compelling MBA Lunch and Learn session on the global impact of digital technologies.

Chen explored how digital technologies – such as e-commerce platforms, mobile banking, and AI – are reshaping global commerce. Drawing from her research, she introduced a framework to better understand how and where these transactions occur in the digital economy.

Her three-part framework categorized digital transformations by:

  1. Search Costs: Platforms like UberEats and TikTok reduce the effort to find goods or services
  2. Productions Costs: Automation, robots, and AI can enhance productivity
  3. Transactions Costs: Innovations like financial services, transportation, and mobile banking simplify exchanges

Chen emphasized how these technologies are redefining production, distribution, and consumer engagement. Xiaohongshu (Red Note) is a Chinese platform that evolved its platform from a shopping guide into a full-scale e-commerce ecosystem amid geopolitical uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future in the United States.

She addressed how the rise of these digital platforms and their accessibility significantly lowers the cost of becoming a seller, while also creating an ultra-competitive, highly saturated market. The platform’s success stories often rely less on product quality and more on early algorithmic visibility, highlighting how early exposure – not necessarily product quality – is driving demand and lasting market dominance on these platforms.

Turning to production costs, Chen addressed the implications of rising automation and robot adoption across East Asia, noting the significant shifts in labor dynamics, productivity, and trade policy. She suggested that new technologies could help countries realign their comparative advantages and even make tariffs more impactful by reducing overseas labor reliance. AI and automation are not just improving efficiency, but they’re transforming who holds the advantage in global trade.

Attendees left the session with a deeper understanding of how digital technologies intersect with international economics, and how innovation is not only transforming industries, but also redefining market structures and competitive advantage.

By Bella DeLeo (C’26)