A Multi-case Research On Coopetition Of Internet Platform Enterprises

There have been some cases that competitive relationship between internet platform enterprises became cooperation in the recent commercial practice,such as 58.com vs Ganji,Youku vs Tudou and so on.The traditional coopetition theory based on supply chain model and resource based view perspective cannot explain this kind of phenomenon : On one hand,coopetition theory of resource perspective thinks that resource similarity is the key element to effect the coopetition strength.Enterprises compete on homogeneous resources and cooperate on heterogeneous resources.However,the recent cases of internet platform enterprises cooperate with each other on homogeneous resources such as human,money and material.On the other hand,coopetition theory of supply chain perspective thinks that enterprises compete in activities close to the customer and cooperate in activities far from the customers,while all users of internet platform are close to the platform enterprises.View of this,the reason of theoretical challenges mentioned above is the particularity of resource properties and operation mechanism of internet platform enterprises.Traditional enterprises view resource with exclusive,rareness,difficult to imitate as the core resource,seeing supplying structure of one-way chain as the core model.While internet platform enterprises view data resource with sharing,mass easy to copy as the core resource,seeing platform model of multi-direction network as the core model.Instead of supply chain theory,platform theory emphasizes that platform enterprises focus on the resources and interests of bilateral or multilateral market.Therefore,platform theory under internet situation and data resource properties may provide a new theoretical perspective for researches of coopetitive strategy of internet platform enterprises.Based on platform theory,coopetition theory and resources related theory,this paper defines the similarity and attribution of data resource,refines the constructs of coopetitive strategy and tactics,and studies the influence mechanism between platform model,data resources and coopetitive strategy,depicts coopetitive tactics of different strategy through 4 pairs of exploratory multiple case analysis.This research builds the theoretical system of coopetitive strategy and tactics under internet platform situation,enriches and improves the current Coopetition Theory and Resource Based Theory(RBT),providing guidance and advises to business practices.The main conclusions of the research are as follows:Firstly,research depicts the operation mechanism and data resource properties of internet platform enterprises,shows that similarity and attribution of data resource are key factors that effect coopetition of Internet platform enterprises.To be specific,enterprises tend to choose partner stratery on homogenous and multi-homing data resources,and choose adaptive strategy on homogenous and single-homing data resources,and choose isolated strategy on heterogeneous and multi-homing data resources,and choose contending strategy on heterogeneous and ingle-homing data resources.Secondly,Internet platform enterprises make decisions of coopetitive tactics based on allocation and application trends of data resources.To be specific,enterprises under parter situation tend to choose focusing and sharing,and implement coopetitive tactics of deep complementary;enterprises under contending situation tend to choose differentiation and protection,and implement coopetitive tactics of boundary differentiation;enterprises under adaptive situation tend to choose differentiation and sharing,and implement coopetitive tactics of synergicon of difference;enterprises under adaptive situation tend to choose focusing and protection,and implement coopetitive tactics of professional focusing.In this paper,the innovative identity primarily reflected in three aspects:Firstly,this research refines and defines the operation mechanism and data resource properties of internet platform enterprises.Although some scholars realized the significant impact of internet platform model and big data on commercial practice,there still lacks research on operation mechanism and data resource properties.This paper shows that internet platform is a carrier which connected subsidized segment and profit-making segment,meeting the demand of each other.The data resource property of profit-making segment is similarity and property of subsidized segment is attribution.This research defines operation mechanism and data resource properties of internet platform enterprises,enriching and improving the current internet platform related theory,and supplement data resource as a kind of new resource element,promoting the construction and development to the burgeoning big data economic theory.Secondly,this research constructs theoretical framework of coopetitive strategy of platform enterprises under internet situation.Based on platform theory,data resource properties and coopetition theory under internet situation,this paper constructs theoretical framework of coopetitive strategy of platform enterprises under internet situation,and concludes four kinds of coopetitive strategy of contending,partner,isolating,and adapting.This research reveals influence mechanism between platform model,data resources and coopetitive strategy,enriching and improving the current coopetition theory.Lastly,this paper depicts coopetitive tactics of different strategy based on data resource perspective.Most previous studies on coopetition theory focus on classification,antecedent and consequence variables,there is little literature concerns coopetitve tactics of different coopetitve strategy.This research refines deep complementary under parter stratety,boundary differentiation under contending strategy,synergicon of difference under adaptive strategy.professional focusing under isolated strategy,enriching and extending the coopetition theory about coopetitive tactics research.