Complementary Assets, Organizational Modularization, and Platform Enterprise Value Innovation

Abstract

In the platform economy, platform enterprises connect producers and customers, matching diverse supply with diverse demand to achieve profit goals. The big data assets and marketing relationships owned by platform enterprises are complementary assets, and their modular organizational structure is crucial for enhancing enterprise value innovation. The existing literature lacks in-depth exploration of the impact of complementary assets on platform enterprises. Therefore, the research purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of complementary assets and organizational modularity on platform enterprise value innovation. Taking Meituan as the research object, this paper adopts the single case-study method of grounded theory coding to explore the relationship between complementary assets, organizational modularity, and platform enterprise value innovation. Research has shown that organizational modularity includes two dimensions, dependency and structural arrangement, while value innovation includes three dimensions, customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability. Among them, complementary assets and organizational modularity both have a positive impact on platform enterprise value innovation, and organizational modularity plays a moderating role in the impact of complementary assets on platform enterprise value innovation. The research results have enriched the research on complementary assets, organizational modularity, and value innovation theory, providing a theoretical basis and inspiration for enterprise organizational design and better utilization of complementary assets.

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of modern information and communication technology, the platform economy in the Chinese market has flourished, and a large number of inter network platform enterprises have emerged [1]. Platform enterprises connect producers and customers, with dual attributes of enterprise and market. Platform enterprises do not need to conduct self-research and development or hoard products. They match diverse supply with diverse demand to achieve profit goals. Several scholars have mentioned in their research the importance of complementary assets for platform enterprises and their ecosystem construction [2,3,4]. Platform enterprises can leverage the platform architecture to leverage a large number of complementary assets in the innovation ecosystem, such as production and research and development, marketing, after-sales service, and enterprise users, to achieve their corporate goals [5].

The platform business model has the characteristic of openness, and platform enterprises can not only innovate internally, but also utilize external complementarity for innovation [6]. Platform enterprises have important characteristics of modularity and openness, which create conditions for stable coordination of the platform [7]. From an ecosystem perspective, platforms can be simultaneously open to the outside world and use modularity as a coordination tool [8]. Modularization brings flexibility effects to product design, research and development, and production between organizations, allowing modular products or services to have flexibility, thus achieving value innovation that balances differentiation and low cost simultaneously [9].

A review of the literature reveals that a large amount of studies consider value innovation as a result variable of corporate strategy, used to measure the performance of enterprises in expanding industry boundaries and carrying out new business values [10]. The research on value innovation in the existing literature is still exploring its definition and application, and there is a relative lack of research on the key driving factors of value innovation. The success of platform companies relies on complementary innovation [3]. Therefore, it is necessary to consider value innovation as a result variable of organizational operation to study its antecedent variables, complementary assets, and the role of organizational modularity.

Based on the observation of practical problems in enterprise practice and insufficient research in existing literature, the research questions of this article are as follows: Do complementary assets promote value innovation in platform enterprises under the regulatory effect of organizational modularity? Does organizational modularity have a positive impact on the value innovation of platform enterprises? The structure of this article is divided into three parts: (1) Review the literature, identify research gaps, and propose research questions. (2) Take Beijing Sankuai Online Technology Co., Ltd. (Meituan for short, Beijing, China) as the research object, carry out a single case study using grounded theory, and initially build a theoretical model of “complementary assets—organizational modularization—platform enterprise value innovation”, then specify the dimensions of each variable in the theoretical model and the internal relationships between each variable. (3) Conclusions and inspiration.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Complementary Assets

Complementary assets, first proposed by Teece in the PFI model, refer to all supporting assets that enterprises need in the process of technological innovation and commercialization [11]. Helfat (1997) believes that complementary assets are assets that help companies commercialize innovation results [12].

Existing research suggests that the increase in universal complementary assets and specialized complementary assets will bring more value to users on the demand side of the platform [4,13]. Innovators and complementary assets acquirers (such as relevant collaborators, upstream and downstream enterprises) collaborate with each other to create value [14]. Rothaermel (2001) studied the cooperation between the existing platform enterprises and new entrants and found that the platform enterprises that focus their network strategy on exploring complementary assets outperform those that focus on exploring new technologies [15]. Complementary assets can affect platform leadership, platform reputation and platform sustainability [16].

2.2. Organizational Modularity

Aoki Masahiko (2003) pointed out that “modules” are semi-autonomous subsystems that can form a system and have certain independent functions. They can be interconnected with other semi-autonomous subsystems through standardized interface structures and follow certain rules to form more complex systems. Modularization refers to the process in which semi-autonomous subsystems are interconnected with other similar subsystems according to certain rules to form more complex systems [17].

Modularization evolves according to technological modularity, product modularity, industrial modularity, and organizational modularity. The loose enterprise organization form generated to adapt to modular production is called “modular organization”, while the behavior of splitting modular organization into various constituent units (or member enterprises) or combining various constituent units into a common organization is called “organizational modularization” [18].

Previous studies have shown that in the process of organizational modularization, the mechanisms of competition and collaboration, value convection, and module operation within the organization are conducive to achieving both “relatively low cost” and “customer-oriented differentiation” goals simultaneously [19], namely value innovation.

2.3. Value Innovation

In 1997, Kim and Mauborgne proposed the concept of value innovation in “Blue Ocean Strategy”: value innovation is changing the value proposition, providing excellent value to customers at low cost, and achieving the synergy of two seemingly contradictory strategies of low cost and differentiation [20]. Li Yi (2012) believes that value innovation is an innovative activity that breaks out of the traditional competitive trap and provides completely new and superior customer value to the existing market based on customer needs, or creates a significant leap in customer value to create a market and gain a competitive advantage [21]. Related research tends to consider value innovation as a result variable of corporate strategy and research on the antecedents of value innovation generally includes digital assets, enterprise network structure, enterprise experimental learning, product sales, number of developers, organizational modularity, and so on. The value innovation of entrepreneurial enterprises depends on the information they can obtain and their relationships with business partners [22].

2.4. Research Review

In summary, based on the existing literature, the following research gaps have been found: (1) The existing research on the relationship between complementary assets and value innovation is not sufficient, and most of the current research on complementary assets is related to the innovation models and performance of traditional enterprises. Value innovation, as a new business logic and paradigm, is still being explored in the existing literature for its definition and application. There is relatively little research on the key driving factors of value innovation, and few literature studies value innovation as a result variable of organizational management to study its antecedent variables, complementary assets, and the role of organizational modularity. (2) In terms of research methods and objects, most existing literature is based on case analyses to study the modularity theory of industries or regions, and few studies use empirical methods to study organizational modularity from the perspective of platform enterprises. (3) The existing literature lacks research on the impact of organizational modularity on complementary assets and platform enterprise value innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to take complementary assets and organizational modularity as dependent variables based on resource-based theory, value innovation theory, and grounded theory to reveal the value innovation mechanism of platform enterprises.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Methods

This article is an exploratory case study aimed at revealing the relationship between complementary assets, organizational modularity, and platform enterprise value innovation. We explore how complementary assets and organizational modularity affect platform enterprise value innovation. Due to insufficient existing literature closely related to the research content of this article, it is suitable for exploratory case studies [23].

Based on the value innovation theory and grounded theory, this study focuses on the impact of complementary assets and organizational modularity in the innovation ecosystem on the value innovation of platform enterprises and guides the case study of this study.

3.2. Case Selection

According to the research questions and theoretical constructions of this article, the selection criteria for enterprises in this study are as follows: (1) enterprise that has survived for more than three years and is currently operating normally; (2) platform enterprise with a modular organizational structure; (3) platform enterprise with a large number of complementary assets; (4) the business philosophy of the selected case enterprise has inspiration for other enterprises or industries; and (5) platform enterprise facing the rapid market and technological changes.

The selection of cases should be performed through purposive sampling [24]. At the same time, this article also considers the principles of representativeness, inspiration, and data availability of the cases, and selects Meituan as the case study object: (1) Meituan has unique characteristics. Meituan has used consumer big data to create a large number of complementary assets in the field of the takeout and group buying, relying on its strong user stickiness to successfully defeat competitors and industry startups. (2) Meituan is representative. Meituan is one of the few large companies that develops diversified businesses without splitting them up. Meituan adopts an organizational structure of “business groups + business departments”. Currently, there are two major business groups (to home and to store), four major business departments (preferred, KuaiLv, shopping, review, etc.), and three major platforms (Meituan platform, smart transportation platform, and basic research and development platform). Meituan puts many businesses together and insists on not splitting them, based on its platform strategy—allowing users to enjoy multiple services on one platform. (3) Meituan is inspiring. The business strategy of transforming Meituan’s huge user traffic has brought reference and learning to other platform enterprises. (4) Data availabilities. The growth of Meituan has attracted a lot of attention, with a wealth of publicly available official data, interviews with people, biographies, news reports, and other materials; the Meituan platform has a wide audience, with a wide distribution of customers, merchants, riders, and practitioners, making it easy to conduct interviews.

3.3. Case Background

Beijing Sankuai Online Technology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China), abbreviated as Meituan, was launched by its founder, Wang Xing, in 2010. The mission of Meituan is to “help everyone eat better and live better”. The company has a wide audience of apps such as Meituan, Dianping, and Meituan Delivery, making it a leading e-commerce platform for lifestyle services in China. Meituan started as a group buying business and gradually became a local O2O giant covering over 200 categories of business, including catering delivery, hotel tourism, and community group buying. Its business covers nearly 3000 cities and counties across the country.

In September 2021, at the biannual strategic meeting, founder, chairman, and CEO Wang Xing announced that Meituan’s strategy would be upgraded from “Food + Platform” to “Retail + Technology”. Meituan will move from service retail to physical retail, with technology as its strategic direction.

Since its development in 2010, Meituan’s organizational ecology has also undergone different stages of evolution. When Meituan establishes an independent department for a new business, it quickly makes structural adjustments, establishes an independent business unit, and designates a founding team member as the direct leader of the business unit to ensure the overall culture and mindset are upheld in the process of promoting the new business. The milestone events of Meituan’s growth, are shown in Figure 1.

3.4. Data Collection

This is an exploratory research to discuss the relationship between complementary assets, organizational modularity, and value innovation. This article used the triangular validation method to obtain different raw data through multiple channels, ensuring the reliability and validity of the data, overcoming subjective one-sidedness, and ensuring the scientific nature of the research results [23,25]. Specific channels included online/offline interviews, on-site observations, internal materials, mainstream online media, and corporate official websites.

(1) In terms of interviews, a differentiated interview strategy was adopted. From October 2022 to February 2023, semi-structured online/offline interviews were conducted with Meituan operations director, department managers, inbound merchants, delivery riders, consumers, etc. During interviews with Meituan employees, it was confirmed that the process of complementary assets and organizational modularity leading to enterprise value innovation mentioned in public materials was correct. At the same time, questions were asked about Meituan’s user stickiness, traffic data conversion, organizational structure, and user value innovation, indirectly verifying the correctness of secondary data; through on-site interviews with settled merchants and delivery riders, we learned about their cooperation with Meituan, their business status, and management methods, and inquired about their user stickiness towards Meituan; in the interviews with consumers, we learned about multiple issues such as their evaluation of Meituan, the choice of shopping platforms, consumer willingness, and user stickiness. We intended to ensure the scientific nature of research results through multidimensional analysis of a large number of samples.

(2) On-site observation. The research team in this article delved into the consumption environment of Meituan merchants and Meituan consumers, observing the decision-making basis of consumers, riders, and merchants when shopping and applying for cooperative merchants. They recorded and collected the feelings of using Meituan for group buying, ordering takeout, accommodation reservation, taxi taking, and buying movie tickets.

(3) Internal information. The research team in this article participated in the project and had close contact with Meituan, obtaining some internal business reports and information on business expansion within Meituan.

(4) Secondary data. We included mainstream media news reports (online press releases, newspapers, official account, etc.), full-text databases such as CNKI, WFDB, WIP, and Web of Science core collections, books and biographies, company annual reports, Meituan enterprise official website materials, and audio and video interviews obtained through open channels. The summary of data sources is shown in

Table 1. Summary of data sources.

Data Classification	Source of Data	Data Description	n	Data Encoding
Primary data	Interview	Department manager	3	L8
		Operations director	3	L9
		Settled merchant	10	SM
		Delivery rider	20	TR
		Customer	61	C
	Internal non-public information	Internal relevant information	10,000 words	ID
	Wang Xing	Wang Xing’s personal comments, interview with Finance and Economics	11,000 words	PR
Secondary data	Official website of the enterprise	Company-related information and background information	251	BI
	Book biography	Biography of Wang Xing–There are no limits in life; Long term patience: the growth and evolutionary logic of Meituan; Nine defeats and one victory: Wang Xing, founder of Meituan, has been entrepreneurial for ten years	3	B
	Media website	Mainstream media coverage of Meituan	270	MC
	Newspaper	News coverage	337	NR
	Full-text database	Core collection of papers collected by CNKI, WFDB, VIP, and Web of Science	11	ZW
	Interview video and audio	Meituan performance conference audio (4.9 h), Wang Xing interview video (7 h), Vice president Xia Huaxia speech (0.5 h), Himalayan audio (2.2 h)	14.6 h	VA
	Company annual report	2018–2022 Meituan company annual reports	9	AR

.

4. Findings

The case study is an empirical investigation of the phenomenon under the realistic background [23], and data collection and analysis were based on grounded theory [26]. This article used multivariate evidence to ensure the reliability and validity of the research results. Firstly, the data were coded according to the source of the data. For the first-hand interview materials, the five core interviewees, namely department managers, operations directors, resident merchants, delivery riders, and consumers, were coded as L8, L9, SM, TR, and C, respectively; we encoded internal relevant information as ID, and Wang Xing’s personal comments as PR. In terms of secondary data, the relevant information and background information on the company’s official website were encoded as BI; the book biography code is B; the media’s relevant reports on Meituan are encoded as MC; the newspaper reports code is NR; the full-text database includes Meituan papers with the code ZW; the video and audio encoding of the press conference is VA; and the company’s annual report code is AR.

Secondly, in order to ensure the reliability, construct validity, internal validity, and external validity of this study, the following testing strategies were proposed: (1) In terms of reliability, a detailed case study plan was developed, and a comprehensive case study database was established by collecting channel information to facilitate subsequent testing and analysis to improve the reliability of the case study. (2) In terms of construct validity, we conducted cross-analyses and mutual verification of the primary and secondary data from multiple sources, word by word and sentence by sentence. We deleted original data that did not meet the research topic or errors; extracted keywords, key sentences, typical quotes, etc.; constructed an evidence chain, and communicated with relevant employees of Meituan in a timely manner. (3) In terms of internal validity, based on existing theoretical knowledge, previous research conclusions, and other supporting materials, we defined the content of the new concepts and relationships formed after coding, and observed whether the theoretical model of case analysis is consistent with the model on empirical data. (4) In terms of external validity, this study was guided by the value innovation theory. The coding results were repeated, replicated, discussed, and expert opinions were promptly sought to ensure the effectiveness and sufficiency of the coding results, forming the final coding result.

4.1. Open Coding

We sorted the data of the case enterprise through data encoding. The purpose was to extract themes from textual data and construct an impact model for platform enterprise value innovation. In the first level coding, we adopted an open coding method. Each data source was numbered according to the rule of “source + serial number” in the study, for example, MC1 represents the first article reported by mainstream media, ensuring the authenticity and accuracy of the original data.

Finally, 147 valid entries were obtained, 21 primary coding results are shown in

Table 2. Open coding and examples.

Open Codes	Classic Statement Reference	n
Sales channel construction	The conversion rates of transaction users in the core catering category of Meituan to hotel reservations and other living services have reached 80% and 74%, respectively. ZW4	48
Brand building	Meituan actively responded to the requirements of the National Cyberspace Administration and the Beijing Cyberspace Administration and immediately launched a 1-month “Clear Spring Festival Network Environment” special action to create a joyful, healthy, and peaceful online holiday atmosphere for users. BI3	2
Good relationship between upstream and downstream	As the delivery market gradually matures, users’ preferences for choosing delivery platforms have formed, and the effect of simple subsidies on customer acquisition has weakened. Despite launching a “billion-dollar subsidy” to regain market share, short-term burning subsidies are difficult to cultivate loyalty. Under the complex full reduction subsidy mechanism, the price difference between different platforms is not significant. In the scenario of just in need dining, users have a low frequency of cross-platform price comparison and are not sensitive to small-scale price differences. Therefore, user stickiness will continue to maintain an advantage for Meituan, which has larger traffic. MC24	7
Marketing development	Meituan will invest in Dongcheng International Group, with a 20% stake and begin further expansion in the wine and tourism industry. MC3	10
Using advanced technology	How to improve efficiency? We cannot rely solely on everyone working overtime; there are limits. IT system technology is also needed to improve management efficiency, and high-tech is needed. PR1	4
Investing in new equipment	At the beginning of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, in order to better help the epidemic prevention work and truly achieve the goal of “no contact, more safety”, Meituan officially announced the launch of the unmanned distribution epidemic prevention assistance plan, which took the lead in Beijing Shunyi district. BI2020	3
Competitive production service capabilities	The life service platform provides integrated digital solutions that empower merchants’ value chain. Digital services are penetrating from front-end links such as marketing diversion, online ordering, and online payment to back-end links such as supply chain management, customer management, and operational decision-making, promoting enterprise efficiency improvement and helping the high-quality development of the life service industry. MC24	3
New methods to enhance production service capability	Digital services are penetrating from front-end links such as marketing diversion, online ordering, and online payment to back-end links such as supply chain management, customer management, and operational decision-making, promoting enterprise efficiency improvement and helping the high-quality development of the life service industry. MC24	14
Product/Service segmentation	After adjustment, the organizational structure is divided into two major platforms (user platform and LBS platform), business groups (to store business group and to home business group), and independent business units (KuaiLv business unit and XiaoXiang business unit). MC14	6
Standardization of work procedures	In Meituan, creating new business requires docking system data interfaces according to standards. L82	5
Formal communication between departments	Meituan, relying on rich business scenarios, data resources, and real industry issues, has collaborated with scholars from more than 30 well-known universities and research institutions both domestically and internationally to carry out over 100 research cooperation projects. Multiple technical achievements have been applied in different business scenarios, accelerating the exchange and implementation of industry–university research cooperation. BI2021	3
The recognition level of innovative products	During the epidemic in February this year, we used unmanned delivery vehicles to deliver food to residents in eight residential areas in Shunyi district, Beijing. During the epidemic period, many customers had a little psychological barrier to contact with riders. They wanted to reduce the contact between people as much as possible. Then we used the unmanned car that we had developed for several years and had not been put on line. Although it was just a meal for users, it was also highly praised by users in the communities we covered. VA3	6
Customer utility	We use technology to help ordinary people, whether they are consumers or merchants, to improve efficiency and have a better experience. VA3	2
Product cost	With the growth of business types and scales, the competitive advantage of users and merchants in fulfilling contracts is constantly being reused in different businesses. A catering business can simultaneously use Meituan’s group purchase, take out, store opening treasure, and KuaiLv’s supply chain services, which makes Meituan’s marginal cost lower and its operational efficiency higher when expanding new business. MC24	3
Product price	Under the synergistic benefits brought by the platform ecosystem, Meituan continues to penetrate first- and second-tier cities, creating a differentiated competitive advantage by providing additional services such as meal delivery, gym, and entertainment for hotel reservation users, and promoting a continuous increase in customer unit price and commission rate. MC14	3
Enjoy the reputation of an innovator	Meituan, as an innovative benchmark for the delivery model, is being imitated by foreign countries. The richness and innovation of Meituan’s innovative model showcase the power of Chinese innovation. As a representative of the new generation of internet, Meituan is undertaking the mission of China’s innovative solutions and standard output in terms of technology, business model, and even disruption. MC36	1
Speed of responding to demand	Meituan Optimal has developed a plan for epidemic control and prevention of people’s livelihood and supply in extreme weather, and has built and operated a big data system and response mechanism. It only takes 12 h to complete orders, notify merchants to stock up, quickly organize goods sources, gather to warehouse, sort and process, and deliver to the community. NR4	6
The cycle of launching new products or services	With the growth of business types and scales, the competitive advantage of users and merchants in fulfilling contracts is constantly being reused in different businesses. A catering business can simultaneously use Meituan’s group purchase, take out, store opening treasure, and KuaiLv’s supply chain services, which makes Meituan’s marginal cost lower and its operational efficiency higher when expanding new business. MC24	2
Market value of innovative products	The vast sinking market in China is not covered by the chain supermarket industry, and community group buying has indirectly achieved a large, low-price chain without inventory in China’s lower tier cities. There is no space limitation for location selection, and every small shop on the street can become a self-pickup point, which makes its expansion speed faster than other fresh retail formats. Meituan Preferred achieved 120 billion GMV in just one and a half years. MC16	2
Degree of emphasis on innovation	Meanwhile, Meituan has integrated the internal technology of the group and established an AI platform, led by chief scientist Xia Huaxia, who has been responsible for the construction of multiple businesses such as takeout and unmanned delivery. MC16	12
The effectiveness of innovation	Merchants who have used the “delivery butler service” have increased their average monthly transaction volume by 79%, and their survival rate is 39% higher than those who have not used the butler service. BI2021	5

.

4.2. Axial Coding

The second level adopts axial coding, which checks the relationships between various constructs and phenomena on the basis of open coding, considers the possible logical relationships between the core categories and constructs, and forms abstract theoretical constructs. Finally, seven secondary encoding results and three core categories are shown in

Table 3. Relationship between three core categories, constructs, and open codes.

Core Categories	Constructs	Open Codes
Complementary assets	Specialized complementary assets	Sales channel construction
		Brand building
		Good relationship between upstream and downstream
		Marketing development
	Universal complementary assets	Using advanced technology
		Investing in new equipment
		Competitive production service capabilities
		New methods to enhance production service capability
Organizational modularity	Structural arrangement	Product/Service segmentation
		Standardization of work procedures
	Dependency relationship	Formal communication between departments
Value innovation	Customer value innovation	The recognition level of innovative products
	Product value	Customer utility
		Product cost
		Product price
	Innovation ability	Enjoy the reputation of an innovator
		Speed of responding to demand
		The cycle of launching new products or services
		Market value of innovative products
		Degree of emphasis on innovation
		The effectiveness of innovation

.

As shown in the above table, we used a large amount of secondary data, some interview data, and internal data to identify the complementary assets, organizational structure, and value innovation of the Meituan case and reached the following conclusions: Firstly, Meituan is a platform enterprise with a large number of complementary assets and a modular organizational structure. In order to ensure the survival and rapid development of enterprises in the fierce market competition, Meituan needs a huge user flow to prevent other startups from entering the industry. Therefore, the huge user stickiness and competitive production and service capability are important complementary assets of Meituan.

Secondly, Meituan has a modular internal organizational structure. The act of splitting a modular organization into its constituent units or aggregating them into a common organization is called “organizational modularization”. Meituan has subdivided its business segments after integrating resources within the enterprise, and has tried and expanded its business segments. Meituan’s working procedures have been standardized, and an official channel has been set up between departments to exchange knowledge of industry, university, and research. Therefore, its constituent units can be quickly separated and combined. Meituan already has a modular organizational structure.

Thirdly, Meituan’s value innovation is reflected in customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability. Meituan’s strategy is to provide better service to consumers, and its innovative products are highly recognized by the public. At the same time, Meituan responds quickly to demand, has a short cycle of launching new products or services, values innovation, and enjoys a good reputation as an innovator.

4.3. Relationships between Core Categories

This subsection analyzes and identifies the relationships between core categories and finds textual evidence supporting these relationships.

4.3.1. Relationship between Complementary Assets and Value Innovation

We explored the relationship between complementary assets and value innovation through the information reflected in a large amount of collected textual material, and found that complementary assets have an impact on value innovation. Specifically, universal complementary assets and specialized complementary assets both can influence all three aspects of value innovation: customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability. The specific relevant evidence is shown in

Table 4. Complementary assets’ influence on value innovation.

Serial Number	Relationships between Constructs	Reference Statement
1	Universal complementary assets and product value	Meituan’s business brain relies on Meituan’s billion-level knowledge data and uses AI technology to allow machines to “read” user comments and behavior data (universal complementary assets). Merchants can use Meituan’s business brain to view the real-time operating status of their store, achieving six major capability improvements such as efficiency improvement, cost reduction (product value), and big data location selection. BI2020
2	Universal complementary assets and innovation ability	Meituan’s only management system for catering merchants, including functions such as cash register, order collection, pre order purchase, as well as services such as online booking, offline ordering, kitchen management, and electronic invoice (universal complementary assets), has achieved perfect integration of all online and offline behavior scenarios, greatly improving the business efficiency and user experience of merchants (innovation ability). BI2020
3	Universal complementary assets and customer value innovation; specialized complementary assets and customer value innovation	The vast sinking market in China is not covered by the chain supermarket industry, and community group buying has indirectly achieved a large, low price chain without inventory in China’s lower tier cities. There is no space limitation for location selection, and every small shop on the street can become a self-pickup point (specialized complementary assets). Community group buying will gradually disintegrate the previous multi-level wholesale market circulation system and build a new retail system (universal complementary assets). Business flow drives logistics, making it possible to form a nationwide fulfillment network, including a cold chain network that has never been realized before sinking into counties and towns, and going to places that JD Logistics cannot cover (customer value innovation). MC16
4	Specialized complementary assets and innovation ability; specialized complementary assets and product value	With the growth of business types and scales (specialized complementary assets), the competitive advantage of users and merchants in fulfilling contracts is constantly being reused in different businesses. For example, a catering business can simultaneously use Meituan’s group purchase, take out, store opening treasure, and KuaiLv’s supply chain services, which makes Meituan’s marginal cost lower (product value) and its operational efficiency higher when expanding new business (innovation ability). MC24

.

Therefore, we derived Proposition 1: Complementary assets of platform enterprises have a positive impact on value innovation. Among them, universal complementary assets and specialized complementary assets both can influence all three aspects of value innovation: customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability.

4.3.2. Relationship between Organizational Modularity and Value Innovation

We explored the relationships between the dimensions of organizational modularity and value innovation through the information reflected in the large amount of textual materials collected, and we found that organizational modularity would affect value innovation. Among them, structural arrangement and dependency relationship both have an impact on customer value innovation, product value and innovation ability. Specifically relevant evidence is shown in

Table 5. Organizational modularity’s influence on value innovation.

Serial Number	Relationships between Constructs	Reference Statement
1	Structural arrangement and product value; structural arrangement and innovation ability	Meituan, based on its own operational practices, has jointly released two group standards, namely the “Operating Regulations for Low Altitude Logistics in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Cities” and the “Requirements for Professional Competence of Automatic Delivery Vehicle Personnel”, along with the Aviation Society of China and the Society of Automotive Engineering of China. They have standardized the relevant work (structural arrangement) in the field of automatic delivery from the perspectives of job competency requirements and business operation processes for staff, Having high industry practical guidance significance (innovation ability) will help to ensure and improve the overall safety of automatic delivery (product value). MC37
3	Structural arrangement and customer value innovation	The satisfaction of Meituan delivery users (customer value innovation) is slightly higher than that of the other two delivery platforms. In terms of the number of catering merchants, food safety, food prices, accurate and truthful merchant information, and the segmented customer service attitude of merchants (structural arrangement), Meituan takeout is slightly superior. MC38
2	Dependency relationship and innovation ability	Meituan and the team of academician Zheng Weimin of the Chinese Academy of Engineering have jointly promoted scientific and technological progress in the direction of high-performance computing by means of industry–university research cooperation (dependency relationship), and have jointly carried out a number of scientific research projects (innovation ability). BI2021
4	Dependency relationship and customer value innovation; dependency relationship and product value	Through research experts, agricultural enterprises, Meituan Buying Vegetables, and production research and sales cooperation among the three parties (dependency relationship), Chen Bin’s sales of kiwi berries are steadily increasing, with daily sales reaching thousands of boxes. The kiwi berries, which were previously neglected in the fruit market, are becoming a favorite among citizens on the dining table (customer value innovation, product value). MC39

.

Therefore, we derived Proposition 2: Complementary assets of platform enterprises have a positive impact on value innovation. Among them, structural arrangement and dependency relationship both have an impact on customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability.

4.3.3. Effect of Organizational Modularity between Complementary Assets and Value Innovation

We explored the relationships between complementary assets, organizational modularity, and value innovation through the information reflected in the large amount of textual materials collected, and we found that organizational modularity plays a moderating role in the impact of complementary assets on value innovation. The relevant evidence is shown in

Table 6. Organizational modularity’s influence on complementary assets and value innovation.

Serial Number	Relationships between Constructs	Reference Statement
1	Complementary assets, organizational modularity, and value innovation	The company has standardized workflow (organizational modularity) internally. When Meituan develops a new business, the business activity will pop up on the homepage of Meituan’s other business sticky users (complementary assets), resulting in huge traffic for the new business and increasing its value and acceptance among the public (value innovation). L83

.

Therefore, we derived Proposition 3: Organizational modularity plays a moderating role in the impact of complementary assets on value innovation.

4.4. Theoretical Model

In summary, we propose the relationship between complementary assets, organizational modularity, and platform enterprise value innovation, as shown in Figure 2.

Theoretical saturation point: Through discussions among independent researchers in this research group, we repeatedly validated individual conflicting viewpoints using supplementary data in the database. The research results tended to be consistent, and no new codes, constructs, or relationships were found in the supplementary data. As a result, the theoretical model shown in Figure 2 has reached saturation.

5. Conclusions

5.1. Main Conclusions

Through the study of Meituan’s grounded theory, the study explored how complementary assets affect the value innovation of platform enterprise under the regulation of organizational modularity and revealed the constituent dimensions of organizational modularity and the impact of organizational modularity on the value innovation of platform enterprise. We have established a theoretical model of “complementary assets—organizational modularity—platform enterprise value innovation”.

Research has found that complementary assets have a positive impact on platform enterprise value innovation, organizational modularity has a positive impact on platform enterprise value innovation, and organizational modularity plays a moderating role in the impact of complementary assets on platform enterprise value innovation. Among them, organizational modularity includes two dimensions: structural arrangement and dependency relationship; complementary assets are divided into universal complementary assets and specialized complementary assets. Specialized complementary assets include four dimensions: sales channel construction, market development, brand building, and establishing good relationships upstream and downstream. Universal complementary assets include four dimensions: using advanced technology, investing in new equipment, competitive production service ability, and improving production service ability through new methods; value innovation includes three dimensions: customer value innovation, product value, and innovation ability. The two dimensions of complementary assets and the two dimensions of organizational modularity both have a positive impact on the three dimensions of value innovation.

5.2. Theoretical Contribution

The contribution of this article includes three aspects. Firstly, the constituent dimensions of organizational modularity were proposed, revealing the moderating effect of organizational modularity between complementary assets and platform enterprise value innovation. Secondly, we innovatively explored the impact of complementary assets on the value innovation of platform enterprises. Thirdly, the impact of organizational modularity on platform enterprise value innovation was verified, expanding the scope of value innovation theory.

5.3. Management Enlightenment

The practical implications of this article are as follows: Firstly, by revealing the impact of complementary assets and organizational modularity on value innovation in platform enterprises, as well as the contingency factors of value innovation, this study can help platform enterprises identify key factors that affect enterprise value innovation in complex environments, which is beneficial for platform enterprises to use complementary assets and organizational modularity to increase their competitive advantage and improve performance.

Secondly, this study reveals the important impact of complementary assets and organizational modularity on platform enterprise value innovation, arousing the attention of enterprises to the maintenance of their complementary assets and the transformation of organizational modularity, providing a theoretical basis for future development decisions of enterprises.

5.4. Research Limitations and Prospects

Value innovation is a complex issue, and this article only reveals its functional relationship from the perspective of complementary assets and organizational modularity, but there are still certain limitations. Firstly, this article adopts a single case-study method for research. Although the selected case is representative among platform enterprises, due to the differences between different industries, the universality of research conclusions needs to be tested and demonstrated in future research using cross-industry, cross-case studies or other research methods, in order to increase the reliability and universality of theoretical logic. Secondly, value innovation is the result of multiple factors working together, and future research can further explore richer connotation dimensions, attempting to explore the mechanism of multiple value drivers driving platform enterprise value innovation.