平台主关系断裂情境下价值支持型企业再创业过程研究

Re-entrepreneurship Process of Value-supporter under the Context of Relationship Disruption with the Plat-form Owner

作为平台生态系统一类特殊参与主体,价值支持型企业通过进行大量平台专属性投资以“借势成长”,但企业的发展与壮大也极可能引发“与平台主关系断裂”的危机,亟须通过再创业来维持其生存和发展。然而,价值支持型企业所面临的“现存资源的平台专属性”及“协同伙伴的平台锁定性”两大再创业困境,挑战了传统情境下对于企业再创业的分析思路。本文以蘑菇街为样本对象,通过分析其在与淘宝平台关系断裂后8年间的关键战略行动,发现价值支持型企业再创业的关键在于降低协同价值型资源专属性、构建并提高独立价值型资源差异性,具体通过“资源置换—资源筛选—资源拓展”的一系列资源编排行动予以实现,而且再创业过程中呈现的“身份脱离—身份塑造—身份强化”是价值支持型企业采取不同资源编排行动的核心动因。由此,本文构建起平台关系断裂情境下价值支持型企业基于“身份需求导向—资源编排行动—价值活动目标”逻辑链条的再创业过程模型,以期对平台生态参与者异质性、生态参与者战略等研究领域有所贡献,为高度嵌入特定平台的参与者群体提供应对“大树下不长草”困境的指导。

In the digital economy,the obvious benefits for firms joining platform ecosystems have made the strategic actions of these participants a focus of recent academic interest.As participants grow,platform owners may engage in“banning”or“predatory acquisitions”to lessen threats and strengthen their dominant position.This leads to the prevalent“no grass grows under the big tree”phenomenon.Consequently,the survival challenges of highly embedded and platform-dependent participants post-separation have garnered significant attention.Value supporters,a distinct participating group in platform ecosystems,make substantial platform-spe-cific investments for growth.However,the development and expansion of these firms can also lead to the threat of“relationship dis-ruption with the platform owner,”necessitating a process of“re-entrepreneurship”to maintain their survival and development.Nev-ertheless,the re-entrepreneurship dilemmas faced by value supporters,namely“the platform specificity of existing resources”and“the platform lock-in of collaborative partners,”challenge the traditional analytical approaches to corporate re-entrepreneurship.Addressing these theoretical issues and challenges,we focus on how value supporters to restart their business,i.e.re-entrepreneur-ship,in the context of relationship disruption with platform owners.We select MOGU as our focal case to help construct theory,MOGU started as an external link-sharing community for Taobao,providing traffic to Taobao merchants,and is a typical example of a value-supporting enterprise.Moreover,MOGU is one of the few enterprises that successfully re-entrepreneured as an independent live-streaming e-commerce platform after being banned by Taobao,achieving a remarkable turnaround.Its process of re-entrepre-neurship in response to relationship disruption with the platform leader is enlightening.The longitudinal case study reveals a re-entrepreneurship process model for value-supporting enterprises based on the logic chain of“identity orientation-resource orchestration-value activity goal.”Due to the characteristics of value proposition embeddedness,value transfer hierarchy,and value path dependence,value supporters face significant challenges in re-entrepreneurship,particularly overcoming“the platform specificity of existing core resources”and“the platform lock-in of co-creation partners.”This study posits that the key to resolving these dilemmas lies in implementing differentiated resource orchestration actions towards specific targets,effectively reducing the specificity of“collaborative value-type resources”and effectively building and enhancing the distinctiveness of“independent value-type resources.”This process is realized through the actions of“resource substitution-resource screening-re-source expansion.”The identity need orientation of value supporters during the re-entrepreneurship stage is a core driver of different resource orchestration actions.The original identity as“platform value supporters”necessitates overcoming challenges like legitima-cy deficits and lack of legitimacy in the re-entrepreneurship process.Therefore,at different stages of re-entrepreneurship,value sup-porters exhibit needs for identity detachment,identity shaping,and identity reinforcement,which become core drivers for resource actions at various stages.This study fills the research gap where existing studies mostly focus on the action strategies of direct value creators in platform ecosystems and overlook those of value supporters,responding to scholars’calls for attention to the heterogeneity of platform ecosystem participants.Theoretically,it contributes to the research on strategic actions of platform participants.This study focuses on the special context of“participant-platform leader relationship disruption,”breaking the assumed premise of a long-term continuous relationship between platform leaders and participants.It identifies viable paths for reconstructing competitive advantages of platform participants in this special context,contributing to related research fields of action strategies in platform eco-system contexts.In terms of practical implications,the core findings of this study provide guidance for the re-entrepreneurship pro-cess for participants highly embedded in specific platforms,helping them navigate the dilemma of“no grass grows under a big tree.”