Existing studies on the formulation of regulations for online ride-hailing platforms merely see the process as a struggle between interest groups. They do not address how policymakers perceive this struggle and act on their own initiative to govern these platforms. This study supplements existing studies by exploring how the metropolitan governments of two Chinese cities, Beijing and Shanghai, perceived conflicts between contending forms of chauffeur businesses and brought in regulations for new platform ventures. This thesis employs a policy change approach in the Chinese authoritarian context and reaches three conclusions. Firstly, it explains that the "special interests" of taxi entities institutionalized by the old regulatory regimes for taxi businesses incentivized the two metropolitan governments to protect taxi entities. Thus, even if Beijing and Shanghai had different first responses towards platforms with one initially emphasizing "cracking-down" and the other working on a "loose" regulatory approach, they adopted similar platform-capping policies. Secondly, this thesis finds that the two metropolitan governments cautiously disobeyed the central government's "loose" directives for platforms by combining their capping policies with selectively implementing a central directive of differentiating the markets of ride-hailing platforms and taxi operators. Thirdly, this thesis addresses obstructions to the establishment of "new regulation" that respects the business logic of platforms, which is proposed by the platform coalition. It argues that the interaction between the vested "special interests" and the fragmentation of authority makes local governments resistant to this "new regulation." / Graduate

In the digital age, with the accelerating pace of e-commerce, online platforms such as Amazon, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, Netflix, Uber and others have gained in prominence. Furthermore, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, even businesses which were heretofore primarily brick-and-mortar have had to shift to a strong online presence in order to adapt and survive; which, while beneficial to all stakeholders, has resulted in dire challenges for the producers/service providers, platform owners, as well as consumers. In my first essay, I investigate the challenges faced by mobility as a service (MaaS) platforms such as Uber and Lyft for managing their demand and the pool of available drivers. On one hand, driver compensation issues in MaaS platforms is a highly discussed topic. On the other hand, the MaaS platforms are expanding to encompass several external businesses in search of profitability. In this chapter, I focus primarily on driver compensation issues in MaaS platforms when the platforms engage in external businesses. I find that in the majority of instances, the driver compensation reduces when the platforms get involved in external businesses; however, there are a few cases, where it leads to an increment in driver compensation, thus benefiting them. The second essay is on the impact of online reviews from digital platforms such as Yelp and TripAdvisor on business performance. Using a data set from Yelp, first, I study the interaction of average rating and number of reviews on business performance; second, how competition affects the interaction effect of the average rating and number of reviews on the focal business' performance. I find that the impact of the interaction of average rating and number of reviews on business performance is different at various levels of average ratings, and the inclusion of competition negatively influences the interaction effect of the average rating and number of reviews on the performance of the focal restaurant. In my third essay, I analyze how the interaction of supplier encroachment and consumer showrooming impacts an omnichannel retailer and her upstream manufacturer, who encroaches the downstream retailer's market with an online direct sales channel. I identify different scenarios in a covered market where either the retailer, or the manufacturer, or both will be better off. Taken together, these three essays provide valuable managerial insights for real world business problems, which will empower researchers in academia and industry managers, and help them improve their businesses and maximize their operational performance. / Business Administration/Marketing