CGM型プラットフォームにおける規模追求がもたらす慣性

<p> The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems posed to platform (PF) firms by the myopic pursuit of scale in the PF business from the perspective of the inertia that acts on PF firms in response to changes in the external environment, such as the shift in generic technology and the emergence of substitute products. Specifically, this paper examines the question of why and by what process PF firms in the information market, once having secured a sufficient number of users and complements (content) in the market, eventually end up losing users and revenue. In this paper, a case study is conducted to analyze Cookpad, a consumer-generated media (CGM)-type PF business, and a video recipe service provider that is new to the market in the online cooking recipe service market.</p><p> The case analysis pointed out the existence of the following two types of inertia as problems that arise when PF firms try to expand their scale of business in response to the environmental change of increasing demand for video recipe services brought about by changes in generic technology. In other words, this paper suggests that two types of inertia, (1) the cognitive inertia of management and (2) inertia due to accumulated capabilities, may have worked against Cookpad and prevented the company from adapting to the changing environment. This indicates that the inertia created by the myopic pursuit of business scale by PF firms with market positions may delay adaptation to any changes in the environment and actually create a gap in the market that allows other parties to take advantage. For PFs with a market position, complements to their strengths can be a cognitive constraint for new business development. In particular, it is difficult to manage the content contribution activities of complements in the information market PF. Therefore, problems may occur in PF when scale is expanded.</p>