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Minimum-Factor Value Co-Creation in Urban Digital Economies: An Ecological-Constraint Framework for Differentiated Growth Models

Author(s)

Chongren Bi1, Yun Zhao2,*

Affiliation(s)

1Postdoctoral Programme of China Centre for Industrial Security Research (CCISR), Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China 2School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

Urban digital economies exhibit pronounced regional heterogeneity: some cities scale rapidly through platform-led networks, others expand through digitally enabled industrial symbiosis, while still others rely on deep user participation and demand-driven innovation. This conceptual paper integrates value co-creation theory with an ecological limiting-factor perspective grounded in Liebig’s Law of the Minimum. A minimum-factor value co-creation framework is developed in which the evolution of a city’s digital business ecosystem is shaped by a binding ecological constraint that conditions the dominant co-creation pathway and, consequently, the prevailing growth model; iterative feedback then reconfigures ecosystem capabilities and boundaries over time. Building on four schematics, three archetypal urban growth models are delineated—platform-driven, enterprise-symbiotic, and user-enabled—and their respective bottlenecks are specified: policy adaptability for platform-led ecosystems, technology compatibility and innovation capacity for enterprise symbiosis, and user scale and engagement, reinforced by data trust, for user-enabled ecosystems. The framework advances ecosystem research by explaining city-level model differentiation as a constraint-activated selection among co-creation pathways and by translating minimum-factor logic into a governance toolkit centered on dynamic monitoring and targeted interventions across infrastructure, talent, market demand, policy institutions, and competition–cooperation structures.

Keywords

Value Co-Creation; Digital Business Ecosystem; Urban Digital Economy; Limiting Factors; Minimum-Factor Framework; Differentiated Development

References

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