A Dynamic Equilibrium Mechanism of Core Layer Interests in the Mobile Medical Platform Ecosystem

Abstract

In recent years, with the development of the mobile Internet, big data, and cloud computing, the mobile medical platforms such as Ding Xiang Yuan aggregating platform ecological resources have played an irreplaceable role in improving efficiency, optimizing resource allocation, and even promoting the transformation and upgrading of the medical industry. Despite all this, most mobile medical platforms in China still face many problems, including the immature business model, the stagnation of the interaction of knowledge and information among platform members, and the weak platform competitiveness. Based on a review of the platform and commercial ecosystems, this paper adopts the evolutionary game method and simulation to analyze the evolutionary stability strategy of operators, partners, and users in the core layer of the platform during preflow and postflow periods of a mobile medical platform, hence, to construct a beneficial dynamic equilibrium model of a platform business ecosystem under the optimal decisions made by all parties involved in the platform: the goal in the early stage (preflow period) is to increase platform user flow. Hence, the knowledge/information sharing of platform users is needed to enhance platform’s visibility. While in the late period (postflow period), when the platform user flow reaches a certain scale, platform’s goal is to promote revenue, which relies mainly on the pricing strategy. It is critical to promote the stability of the platform and the dynamic balance of interests at the core layer in the pricing process. This paper applies the platform business ecosystem theory and the evolutionary game theory to mobile medical platform development, contributing theoretically and practically in the following: (1) providing a more solid theoretical support for the mobile medical platform research and enriching the theoretical framework of the platform business ecosystem; (2) proposing the dynamic equilibrium model based on the optimal decisions of the platform core layers, which help to reveal the inherent law of the evolution of the mobile medical platform; (3) providing policy suggestions and management implications in constructing an appropriate business ecosystem and achieving sustainable development in mobile medical platforms.