Speaker：Zheng Jie, Professor, Shandong University

Host：Dai Yun, Associate Professor, Lingnan College

Time and Date：15:00, April 14, 2026 (Tuesday)

Venue：Room 214, Lingnan Administrative Center

Language：Chinese

Abstract：

With the vigorous development of the digital economy, traditional real enterprises face strategic choices about whether and how to integrate into the platform economy. This paper identifies four paths for platform economy to empower real enterprises from two dimensions: "building own platforms" and "joining external platforms." Under the framework of duopolistic horizontal differentiation competition, we analyze the impact of different path choices on market competition patterns, corporate profits, and social welfare. The study finds that when positive network externalities are weak, the market may have multiple pure strategy equilibria, which explains the differences in platform integration depth and methods across different industries. As network externalities strengthen, equilibrium results gradually converge, and the market eventually evolves into a stable pattern of "bilateral openness," where enterprises build their own platforms while simultaneously accessing external platforms. Further analysis shows that "bilateral openness" not only enhances corporate profits but also achieves optimal social welfare. This paper provides new perspectives for understanding path selection in platform economy empowering real enterprises in the digital economy era and offers theoretical references for relevant industrial and regulatory policy design.

Profile:

Zheng Jie is University Distinguished Professor at Shandong University and serves as the Director for the Center for Research on Experimental and Theoretical Economics (CREATE). He is recognized as Distinguished Expert of "Taishan Scholar" Project in Shandong Province and Junior Scholar of "Changjiang Scholar Award" Project by Ministry of Education of the Chinese Government. Dr. Zheng received his B.A. and M.A. in Economics from Tsinghua University and Ph.D. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and has been a guest editor for many other SSCI/SCI journals. His main research fields are information economics, industrial economics, experimental economics, and behavioral economics. He has published over 60 research papers in journals including Nature Communications, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Games and Economic Behavior, Management Science, Journal of Industrial Economics, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, as well as top Chinese journals.