Abstract

While prior literature has identified the expropriation threats from platform owners on complementors and the competition between them, little attention has been paid to different entry modes adopted by platform owners to enter complementary markets. This study endeavors to investigate the antecedents of platform owners’ decision on different entry modes (i.e., direct entry mode and private-label entry mode), based on an empirical study on Amazon.com. We explore the different characteristics of product spaces entered by Amazon using each entry mode. The results show that sales of complementors ’product spaces have an inverted U-shape relationship with the likelihood of the platform owner using private-label mode to enter the product space, as compared to using reselling mode to entry. In addition, the inverted U-shape effect of product sales on a platform owner's entry mode choice will be flattened when the product space has high growth potential. This study contributes to the literature on platform-based markets by extending the research focus from single entry mode to various entry modes of digital platform owners, and providing richer understandings towards the platform owners’ competitive behaviors.

About the Speaker

Dr. Xiaodie Pu is an Assistant Professor in Business Analytics at University of Nottingham Business School China. She earned her PhD from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to that, she received her postgraduate degree from University of Amsterdam and undergraduate degree from University of Nottingham. Her research interests include e-business, digital supply chains, platform economy, and big data governance. Her research work has appeared in leading international journals such as International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM) and European Journal of Operations Management (EJOR).