When Uber Eats its own business, and its competitors' too: Resource exclusivity and oscillation following platform diversification

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chung, Hyuck David; Zhou, Yue Maggie; Choi, Christine
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.3659
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 411-435
• 关键词: complementor; diversification; platform; resource exclusivity; resource oscillation

摘要

Research SummaryHow will a platform firm's diversification affect its existing business? Using datasets on the rideshare and food delivery businesses in New York City, we find that the launch of Uber Eats reduced Uber's and Lyft's rideshare trip volumes, but these effects were weaker during rush hours. Additional theoretical and empirical analyses suggest that, while platform diversification enables complementors to share some resources across businesses, it may also create opportunities for complementors to oscillate other complementary resources, thereby diverting complementor resources in the existing business from both the diversifying and competing platform firms. Such sharing-enabled resource oscillation may be due to resource exclusivity at the transactional level and the lack of control by platform firms over resources at the organizational level.Managerial SummaryWe investigate how Uber's and Lyft's rideshare business was impacted by Uber's diversification into the food delivery business with the launch of Uber Eats in Manhattan, New York City. We find that, compared to geographic zones where no restaurant joined Uber Eats, zones where a significant proportion of restaurants joined Uber Eats experienced a relative reduction in rideshare trip volumes for both Uber and Lyft. Our results suggest that platform firms should be aware of the hidden costs of diversification due to their lack of control over gig economy participants (e.g., rideshare drivers). In addition, managers should be mindful of the diversification moves made not only by their own firm but also by competing firms.