LOVE INVENTORY: BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM GOVERNANCE OF AN E-
COMMERCE PLATFORM CASE STUDY SOLUTION
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SYNOPSIS
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Shanghai Zhongdan Information Technology Co. Ltd. (SZIT), established in 2017, is an e-commerce firm
focusing on the flash-sales industry. Helping clothing brands clear their inventory quickly, SZIT rapidly
attracted a large number of brands and successfully built a business ecosystem that includes platforms,
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brands, shopkeepers, and consumers. To help all parties be successful, SZIT has taken a series of measures
to empower ecosystem members, such as helping brands build private traffic pools, providing one-stop
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services for shopkeepers, and reducing financial pressure for both shopkeepers and brands. These measures
have met the needs of different types of stakeholders and enabled SZIT to develop quickly and become a
unicorn in the e-commerce industry. To continuously increase user traffic, SZIT developed the Xiang Store
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WeChat Mini Program to attract public traffic and ease the bottleneck of private traffic. However, SZIT
now faces a new problem: determining how to balance the proportion of public traffic and private traffic.
So
OBJECTIVES
• Comprehend the concept of business ecosystem and its antecedents.
• Understand the governance strategies of a business ecosystem.
• Identify the process and methods of business ecosystem governance.
• Understand the effects of business ecosystem governance.
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
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ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
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1. Why did SZIT build a business ecosystem?
2. What business ecosystem governance strategy did SZIT adopt?
3. How did SZIT govern its business ecosystem?
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4. What was the effect for SZIT of business ecosystem governance?
5. If you were Min Wang, how would you balance the public traffic and private traffic?
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lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
, 3. How did SZIT govern its business ecosystem?
How did SZIT implement the governance strategy of its business
ecosystem? What specific measures did SZIT take? Why did SZIT do this? These questions help students
think about the implementation process of business ecosystem governance. ask
students how they would govern the business ecosystem if they were business managers. This question can
encourage students to freely put forward as many different measures as they can devise.
ask students what the differences are between these business ecosystem governance measures. This
question can lead students to understand different methods of business ecosystem governance.
Effective business ecosystem governance practices can provide incentives for ecosystem members, help ecosystem
e
members use special mechanisms freely to ensure they achieve common goals, and improve the ability of business
ecosystems to cope with external changes and internal innovations.13 There are three different methods of business
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ecosystem governance: resource governance, relational governance, and contractual governance.
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⚫ Resource governance: Keystone enterprises need to maintain co-operative relationships with
stakeholders and attract potential co-operators through continuous resource sharing. 14 Resource
Sa
governance not only focuses on sharing resources to attract stakeholders and achieve value co-creation
but also emphasizes evaluating the contribution of stakeholders and avoiding a phenomenon in which
stakeholders refuse to provide complementary resources for the sake of their own benefit.15
⚫ Relational governance:
n
tio
⚫
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
COMMERCE PLATFORM CASE STUDY SOLUTION
e
pl
SYNOPSIS
m
Sa
Shanghai Zhongdan Information Technology Co. Ltd. (SZIT), established in 2017, is an e-commerce firm
focusing on the flash-sales industry. Helping clothing brands clear their inventory quickly, SZIT rapidly
attracted a large number of brands and successfully built a business ecosystem that includes platforms,
n
brands, shopkeepers, and consumers. To help all parties be successful, SZIT has taken a series of measures
to empower ecosystem members, such as helping brands build private traffic pools, providing one-stop
tio
services for shopkeepers, and reducing financial pressure for both shopkeepers and brands. These measures
have met the needs of different types of stakeholders and enabled SZIT to develop quickly and become a
unicorn in the e-commerce industry. To continuously increase user traffic, SZIT developed the Xiang Store
lu
WeChat Mini Program to attract public traffic and ease the bottleneck of private traffic. However, SZIT
now faces a new problem: determining how to balance the proportion of public traffic and private traffic.
So
OBJECTIVES
• Comprehend the concept of business ecosystem and its antecedents.
• Understand the governance strategies of a business ecosystem.
• Identify the process and methods of business ecosystem governance.
• Understand the effects of business ecosystem governance.
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
, e
pl
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
m
Sa
1. Why did SZIT build a business ecosystem?
2. What business ecosystem governance strategy did SZIT adopt?
3. How did SZIT govern its business ecosystem?
n
4. What was the effect for SZIT of business ecosystem governance?
5. If you were Min Wang, how would you balance the public traffic and private traffic?
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
, 3. How did SZIT govern its business ecosystem?
How did SZIT implement the governance strategy of its business
ecosystem? What specific measures did SZIT take? Why did SZIT do this? These questions help students
think about the implementation process of business ecosystem governance. ask
students how they would govern the business ecosystem if they were business managers. This question can
encourage students to freely put forward as many different measures as they can devise.
ask students what the differences are between these business ecosystem governance measures. This
question can lead students to understand different methods of business ecosystem governance.
Effective business ecosystem governance practices can provide incentives for ecosystem members, help ecosystem
e
members use special mechanisms freely to ensure they achieve common goals, and improve the ability of business
ecosystems to cope with external changes and internal innovations.13 There are three different methods of business
pl
ecosystem governance: resource governance, relational governance, and contractual governance.
m
⚫ Resource governance: Keystone enterprises need to maintain co-operative relationships with
stakeholders and attract potential co-operators through continuous resource sharing. 14 Resource
Sa
governance not only focuses on sharing resources to attract stakeholders and achieve value co-creation
but also emphasizes evaluating the contribution of stakeholders and avoiding a phenomenon in which
stakeholders refuse to provide complementary resources for the sake of their own benefit.15
⚫ Relational governance:
n
tio
⚫
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 4
