Platform-Based Online Services, Competitive Actions, And E-Marketplace Seller Performance

Platform-based services are online services provided by e-marketplace operators to online sellers for them to compete and enhance performance. This paper aims at examining two important questions in the context of e-marketplace: (1) what kind of platform-based services can be used by online retail sellers as competitive moves? and (2) to what extent does the usage of these platform-based services impact online seller’s performance? Drawing on competitive dynamics theory, we argue that sellers that undertake a larger number of, more complex and heterogeneous platform-based services achieve better performance in e-marketplace. Using data of 1046 sellers, who open online retail stores and sell cosmetics on Taobao, a Chinese e-marketplace, we found that while undertaking more complex platform-based services is important by itself, it is more important to be strategic by undertaking a large number of platform-based services and these services had better be different from its competitors and the industry. Implications for practice and research and suggestions for future research on improving sellers’ competitiveness are discussed. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (No. CityU 141809)

An Empirical Analysis

학위논문(석사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 경영대학 경영학과, 2021.8. 명준구.With the emergence of new technologies and due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce and its subsequent e-marketplaces are constantly gaining attention. Simultaneous to the popularity, competition is becoming fierce for both e-marketplace operators and its participating sellers. As a result, they are striving for a competitive edge. Incorporating decision-supporting services in e-marketplaces can be considered as a strategic activity for the platform operators, which can enhance the performance of sellers actively using such services. We therefore hypothesize that the usage of decision support systems will lead to an enhanced performance of e-marketplace participants, i.e., sellers. By utilizing a secondary data provided by one of the leading e-marketplace operators in Korea, we have empirically found out that usage of decision support systems, namely, seller dashboard and review systems, lead to an increase in sales, which is the measurement of a seller’s performance. This study will serve as a literature for DSS effectiveness, e-marketplace success strategies, and will provide theoretical implications for the resource-based view and competitive dynamics theory by adding an empirical evidence for those field of study. Also, this study possesses managerial implications for not only e-marketplace operators seeking success, but sellers within the platform also.IT의 발전과 함께 특히 최근 COVID-19 팬데믹의 영향으로 전자상거래는 꾸준한 성장과 관심을 받고 있다. 하지만 이와 동시에 경쟁 역시 치열해지고 있기 때문에, 전자상거래 플랫폼 운영사들과 플랫폼에 참여하는 판매자들은 경쟁우위를 점하게 위해 노력을 하고 있는 실정이다. 이를 위한 한가지 전략적 방안으로는 전자상거래 플랫폼 내에 의사결정 지원도구를 제공함으로써 판매자들을 돕는 방법이 있다. 이에 따라 실제 이러한 의사결정 지원도구가 실제 전자상거래 플랫폼 참여자에게 도움이 될 것이라는 가설을 세우고 연구를 진행하였다. 한국의 한 전자상거래 플랫폼의 데이터를 제공받아 분석한 결과, 대시보드 및 리뷰 시스템의 의사결정 지원도구를 사용한 경우 매출이 증가하여 판매자의 실적이 유의미하게 개선되었다는 사실을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 의사결정 지원도구의 효과성, 그리고 전자상거래 플랫폼 성공 요인에 관한 문헌으로서 그 의의가 있다고 할 수 있고, 자원기반이론 및 역동적 능력 이론에 관한 실증이라는 점에서 의의를 찾을 수 있다. 또한, 전자상거래 플랫폼 운영사뿐만 아니라 판매자들에게도 경영적인 시사점을 줄 수 있을 것이다.Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Study Background 1 1.2 Study Goals and Question 3 Chapter 2. Literature Review 5 2.1 E-marketplace 5 2.2 Decision Support Systems 9 2.3 Platform Strategy 10 Chapter 3. Hypotheses Development 12 3.1 Hypotheses and Research Model 12 Chapter 4. Research Methodology 17 4.1 Propensity Score Matching 17 4.2 Variables 18 Chapter 5. Data Analysis and Results 21 5.1 Data Description 21 5.2 Data Analysis 25 5.3 Results 27 Chapter 6. Discussion and Conclusion 31 6.1 Implications 31 6.2 Limitations and Further Research 32 6.3 Conclusion 33 References 35 국문 초록 40석

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