Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 2, 2026

An Economic Interpretation of Ecosystem-Specific Advantages in Platform-Based Firms

(Abstract)

Yi Jingtao, Zhou Di and Rong Ke

The industrial ecosystem centered on platform-based firms has become a new engine of global economic growth. In China, such firms actively draw on the country’s well-developed industrial chains to build platform ecosystems. As competition shifts toward the ecosystem level, market rivalry is gradually moving from closed competition centered on the maximization of individual firm interests to open competition characterized by value co-creation among multiple actors within platform ecosystems. Traditional industrial organization theories, which focus primarily on one-sided or two-sided markets, face limitations in explaining competition in ecosystem markets. By incorporating complementors, this study extends the standard two-sided platform competition model into a platform ecosystem competition model based on ecosystem markets, offering a new theoretical perspective on the shift toward ecosystem-based competition and value co-creation among multiple actors. Under this framework, sources of competitive advantages extend beyond firm-specific advantages to ecosystem-specific advantages, with heterogeneous complementors playing a pivotal role. Accordingly, ecosystem-based competitive strategies can yield win-win outcomes in terms of firm profitability and consumer welfare. These findings provide valuable insights for cultivating ecosystem-leading firms with strong control over industrial chains and for further strengthening China’s digital economy.