生态“树”源:平台生态系统的创新扩散机制研究——卡奥斯与科大讯飞平台的双案例对比分析

Research on Innovation Diffusion Mechanism of Platform Ecosystem:Comparative Analysis between COSMO-Plat and iFLYTEK Platform

随着越来越多的创新和价值交换发生在由平台生态系统形成的新经济结构中,创新扩散对平台生态系统可持续发展的作用愈发凸显。然而,鲜有文献对此进行深入诠释。本文选取卡奥斯平台和讯飞开放平台所主导的两类平台生态系统进行双案例对比分析,从平台领导者视角出发探讨如何通过创新扩散实现平台生态系统的可持续发展。研究发现:第一,平台生态系统的特征可以解构为结构维和功能维两个维度,交易型与创新型两类焦点平台主导的生态系统具有差异化的结构和功能特征,呈现出榕树型和樟树型两种不同的“树”模型。第二,创新扩散在平台生态系统可持续发展中发挥着重要作用,不同的平台生态系统呈现出不同的创新扩散机制。榕树型平台生态系统的创新扩散机制要素具体表现在前瞻性搜索、社会化复制和自我强化循环;樟树型平台生态系统的创新扩散机制要素具体表现在技术原型嵌入、社会焦点创建和成长性验证。第三,不同类型的平台生态系统在创新扩散过程中遵循的灵活性与标准化均衡选择策略存在明显的差异性。本文研究结论为平台生态系统的可持续发展提供了理论支持和实践借鉴。

In recent years,with the deepening of technological complexity and production specialization,the platform ecosystem has gradually become a new organizational form for enterprises to link scarce resources and achieve technological,product,and service innovation.Many enterprises are building platform-based ecosystems to leverage resource aggregation effects to obtain sustained competitive advantages.However,the development of the platform ecosystem inevitably faces the problem of balancing flexibility and standardization:in order to cope with uncertainty and adapt to the constantly changing needs of users,the platform ecosystem need to maintain sufficient flexibility to construct unique differences;in order to improve operational efficiency and achieve rapid iteration,the platform ecosystem also need to maintain a certain degree of standardization to standardize platform rules and stabilize the platform core.Therefore,how to balance flexibility and standardization to achieve sustainable development of platform ecosys-tems has become an important issue of common concern for both academia and industry.Existing research has defined the connotation of the platform ecosystem and explored its constituent elements,attribute character-istics,competition,innovation,and other aspects.Most studies only view the platform ecosystem as a static analysis background or unit,ignoring its inherent complexity and dynamic nature as a new organizational form.However,there is still a lack of exploration on the sustainable development of the platform ecosystem.Meanwhile,practice has shown that innovation diffusion plays an im-portant role in the sustainable development of platform ecosystems,promoting the effective dissemination of value propositions and attracting more complementary resources into the platform ecosystem.Existing research on innovation diffusion mainly focuses on traditional enterprises and organizations,and there is little literature exploring the phenomenon of innovation diffusion in platform ecosystems,a new form of organization,nor highlighting the differences in platform ecosystem contexts.Thus,this paper selects two types of platform ecosystems led by the Haier COSMOPlat and iFLYTEK for a dual-case comparative analysis,positions the research question as“how do platform ecosystem achieve sustainable development through innovation diffu-sion”,and further from the perspective of metaphor,to explore the characteristics of the platform ecosystem and its innovation diffu-sion mechanism,so as to better identify the internal logic of the sustainable development of the platform ecosystem.Research finding:firstly,the characteristics of the platform ecosystem can be deconstructed into two dimensions:structural and functional dimensions.The ecosystem dominated by trading and innovative platforms has differentiated structural and functional characteristics,and presents two different“tree”models:banyan and camphor tree.Secondly,innovation diffusion plays an important role in the sustainable development of platform ecosystems,and different platform ecosystems exhibit different innovation diffusion mechanisms.The elements of the innovation diffusion mechanism of the banyan tree type platform ecosystem are specifically mani-fested in forward-looking search,socialized replication,and self-strengthening cycles;the innovation diffusion mechanism elements of the camphor tree platform ecosystem are specifically manifested in the embedding of technological prototypes,creation of social focus,and verification of growth.Thirdly,there are significant differences in the flexibility and standardized balanced selection strat-egies followed by different types of platform ecosystems in the process of innovation diffusion.Theoretical contribution:firstly,this article effectively identifies and deconstructs the ecosystem features dominated by transactional and innovative platforms from both structural and functional dimensions,and conducts comparative analysis.This expands existing research on platform ecosystem classification and provides an important theoretical basis for further exploration of related issues in platform ecology.Secondly,this article explores the innovation diffusion mechanism and its core elements in the context of the plat-form ecosystem,responding to the call of the academic community for research on integrated ecosystems and innovation diffusion.It can contribute to the research gap caused by insufficient consideration of new innovation diffusion scenarios and platform ecosystem innovation issues in existing literature.Finally,this article explores the important role of balancing the“flexibility standardization”paradox in the coordination and development of platform ecosystems,providing important analytical ideas for better revealing the sustainable development of platform ecosystems.