TITLE:
How Can Platform Leader Achieve Sustainable Development in Platform-Based Ecosystem?
AUTHORS:
Yi Zhang, Haiquan Chen
KEYWORDS:
Platform Leader, Platform-Based Ecosystem, Sustainable Development, Reciprocity, Value Co-Creation, Eco-Advantage
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.11 No.8,
August
31,
2020
ABSTRACT: Commercial competition paradigm is changing from competitive
advantage which based internal resources to the eco-advantage which from
ecosystem consisted of internal and external value network under the background
of the Internet economy. Enterprises can’t effectively face the complex and
fierce market competition environment which relied solely on internal
heterogeneous resources or core competencies, so many firms adopt platform
strategy and build a business ecosystem to be out of this dilemma. It could get
eco-advantage for platform leaders to leverage the external resources and ability
from the business ecosystem. How can platform leaders gain sustainable
development depending on the superiority niche in the platform ecosystem? This
paper will answer this question by taking JD as an example which is a typical
B2C Internet platform. The results of the study are as follows: First, the
platform firm is the leader and creator in the early establishment of the platform-based
ecosystem, it’s the formational basis of eco-advantages comes from enough
quantity and high quality of platform user. User install and demand are not only the important orientations for platform enterprises producing and managing but also the power source
for forming eco-advantages and sustainable development. Second, the
sustainable development of the platform leader is related to the size and
strength of the network effect. The more network effects, the more conducive to
get eco-advantages and sustainable development for platform leaders. Third, the
platform-based ecosystem is a value network consisted of a large number of
network nodes which is a symbiosis relationship by competing and cooperating.
The cross-border integration and collaborative development of multi-agent in
the ecosystem are beneficial to promoting platform leaders to form ecological
advantages and achieve sustainable development. Forth, platform leader, which
is the leading species and key species determined the fate of species in the
ecosystem, provides a place for value co-creation of multi-species. It is the
process of multi-agent value co-creation based on the platform for platform
leaders to obtain sustainable development, which is also the result of internal
innovation and external open innovation. This study is of great significance to
enrich the research of platform enterprise theory and guide the sustainable
development of platform enterprise.