| With the rapid development of the sharing economy,shared resources have been gradually shifting from tangible assets to intangible assets.Information technology has also brought new breakthroughs to the business model of the paid-for knowledge.The knowledge-sharing platform,as a platform that can effectively meet the needs of bilateral users for knowledge exchange,has also developed sharply.On an online knowledge-sharing platform,knowledge sharers can provide consumers with various forms of knowledge products.Through the revenue allocation mechanism,the platform can also achieve profitability.Therefore,how to formulate the optimal pricing strategies of the platform is an urgent problem for knowledge-sharing platforms.Based on the optimal pricing theory of the bilateral market,this study proposes a multi-stage dynamic optimal pricing model.In addition,the inherent features of knowledge products and the social characteristics of knowledge sharers are also considered.Through text analysis and cluster analysis,some parameters(e.g.,diffusion rates,validity rates,and social characteristics)of this proposed model are numerically estimated on an empirical dataset from Zhihu Live.Subsequently,this model is numerically solved and sensitivity analysis is also conducted on some key parameters.The obtained results indicate that:(1)The derived optimal pricing strategies are consistent with the actual scenarios of the knowledge-sharing platform,thereby the utility and effectiveness of the proposed model is verified;(2)The network benefits have a positive impact on the start-up and growth stages,but they are not conducive to the profitability of the maturity stage;(3)The diffusion rates and initial conditions have no significant impact on the start-up and growth stages,while the initial conditions have a positive effect on the maturity stage;(4)The validity rates and social characteristics of knowledge products affects different parties of the platform.The validity rates positively influence the development and operation of the platform.In addition,although social characteristics have a positive impact on the growth stage,a negative impact on the maturity stage is also observed;(5)The optimal pricing at the maturity stage is closely related to the transaction cost. |
