Abstract

     Today, more and more enterprises are achieving co-innovation across borders by joining digital platforms. However, many SMEs face difficulties in developing and benefiting from strong digital platform capability (DPC) due to limited experience, resources, and funds, which hinders innovation opportunities. This study constructs a model to explore how SMEs can enhance their innovation performance (IP) by adopting digital platforms based on resource orchestration theory. We then introduce ecological institutional norms (EIN) as the moderating variable to observe whether effective platform governance impacts enterprises’ value co–creation (VCC) and IP. We conduct a questionnaire survey on 346 SMEs in China’s manufacturing industry that participate in digital platforms, and the regression analysis and the bootstrap test results indicate that (1) DPC has a significantly positive impact on IP; (2) DPC has a significantly positive impact on VCC; (3) VCC partially mediates DPC and IP; (4) EIN positively moderate the relationship between DPC and VCC and positively moderate the mediating effect of VCC. These findings add to the literature on digital platforms theoretically and fill the gap in research on how participation in digital platforms can enhance enterprises’ innovation and development from the perspective of SMEs. Finally, the study has important managerial implications for SMEs to cultivate DPC, carry out VCC, and participate in platform governance.

Introduction

     Innovation is a critical component for enterprises to take the leading edge and occupy a dominant competitive position in the market in the context of information technology development and industrial integration [1,2]. In the digital economy age, digital technology provides infrastructural support for economic development [[3], [4], [5]]. However, most small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) in China lack core technologies and the digital divide further increases the resistance to breaking through low–end lock–in. SMEs need to deeply integrate into the digital economy and explore new value growth points through digital process transformation and cross–border integration based on network effects. Therefore, digital platforms and the internal digital business ecosystem (DBE), which can break the boundaries of time, space, and organization with the support of digital technology, are gradually attracting attention [[6], [7], [8]]. Industry leaders such as Ali, Tencent, and Haier are trying to build digital platforms and DBEs to break organizational barriers and achieve technological collaborative innovation [9]. However, most of the current research on digital platforms is centered on large enterprises, with less attention given to SMEs [10,11].

     Resource orchestration theory suggests that static enterprise resources cannot meet the needs of enterprise development. Thus, the ability to allocate, integrate, and utilize resources is key to establishing a sustainable competitive advantage [12]. Joining a digital platform does not directly generate benefits: enterprises can only achieve efficient value creation when they actively and spontaneously allocate resources in a digital platform [[13], [14], [15]]. Based on the digital platform scenario, some scholars have pointed out that digital platform capability (DPC) involves combining the resources obtained by enterprises based on information and communication technology (ICT) with other internal and external resources [16]. A stronger DPC can enhance online communication, collaboration, and marketing for efficient and cost–effective resource expansion, which further increases the identification and integration opportunities of critical shared knowledge. It also facilitates enterprises to reallocate internal and external resources to flexible respond to rapidly shifting market environment [[17], [18], [19]]. However, due to the disadvantages in resources, capital, experience, and other aspects, SMEs’ cooperative innovation with other enterprises in the digital platform is often accompanied by risks such as leakage of core resources and misaligned partnerships [20,21]. As a result, many managers of SMEs are resistant and reluctant to join digital platforms. In light of these contradictions, some intriguing questions arise: Can SMEs actually benefit from digital platforms? How does DPC affect the innovation performance (IP) of SMEs?

Discussion

     This study proposes a moderated mediating model to explore the relationship between DPC and IP and how governance mechanisms in the DBE environment impact the above relationship. Focusing on SMEs, we collected 346 valid questionnaires, tested the theoretical assumptions using empirical analysis, and found some interesting conclusions.

     First, DPC has a significantly positive impact on SMEs’ IP. The result is consistent with resource orchestration theory, which proposes that the orchestration, combination, and flexible allocation of heterogeneous resources can help enterprises maintain their long–term competitive advantage [100]. This suggests that stronger digital platform integration capability enables SMEs to quickly access the large amount of heterogeneous resources aggregated in digital platforms [18] and to accelerate the speed of value feedback between subjects through digital channels [50], continuously optimizing the information quality on the platform. At the same time, we found that DPC positively influences VCC. Stronger digital platform integration capability can effectively monitor and evaluate data elements and strengthen the quality of plans developed jointly between subjects [72]; it can reduce the cooperation risk [71] and effectively promote the willingness of subjects to engage in joint problem solving; it can provide more critical information and promote the flexibility of SMEs to adjust their relationships with partners [16]. Stronger digital platform reconfiguration capability can reduce the cooperation cost [57] and enhance the willingness to engage in joint planning among platform subjects; it can optimize the allocation of platform resources [13] and improve the efficiency of cooperating subjects in joint problem solving; it can make platform subjects behave in a loosely coupled state [60] and promote enterprises’ flexibility and mobility to adjust existing cooperative relationships.