Comment survivre dans l’ombre d’un géant : le cas des plateformes de covoiturage de petite et moyenne taille en Chine

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how do the small and medium-sized collaborative economy platforms gain competitive advantage and get the chance to survive and develop in a market monopolized by industry giants. We take the ride-hailing market in China as an example, for which a case study was conducted by utilizing the business model canvas as an analysis tool. Three typical categories of platforms were summarized from 128 small and medium-sized ride-hailing platforms. By comparing and analyzing the business model canvas between these three types of platforms and the Chinese industry giant Didi, we find that small and medium-sized ride-hailing platforms can develop unique competitive advantage by proposing differentiated value proposition and by constructing corresponding business model canvas in a specific field. In order to gain more market space, they should constantly carry out more sophisticated market segmentation and user identification to look for new business opportunities.