Abstract: Faced with the phenomenon of increased friction among participants due to power imbalance on digital platforms, to study how to coordinate the tensions in the cooperation among participants is of great significance to promote the healthy development of platform ecosystem in China. Combining the paradox theory and the governance theory, and taking the early-stage networks as typical cases, this paper constructs the specific routes for paradox identification and governance during the cooperative process between the platform enterprises and the participants in the platform ecosystem. The findings show that (1) to form the paradox of utilization and development on the learning level, the platform enterprises improve their knowledge development capacity through the top-down governance model to achieve the synergy of “utilization of development”; (2) to form the paradox of autonomy and control on the organization level, the platform enterprises improve their digital capability through digital technology governance model to achieve the synergy of“controlled autonomy”; (3) to form the paradox of cooperation and competition on the performance level, the platform enterprises define their business boundaries through the hierarchical governance model to achieve the synergy of“competitive cooperation”; (4) to form the paradox of collectivity and individuality on the affiliation level, the platform enterprises improve their trust through the bottom-up governance model to achieve the synergy of“individual collectivity”. Accordingly, the paradoxical synergy path of cooperation among participants in the platform ecosystem is summarized as“paradox identification-paradox governance-paradoxical synergy”, which provides new ideas for platform enterprises to implement governance and for participants in the platform ecosystem to develop their cooperations better.

Key words: platform ecosystem, paradox, governance, cooperation, tensions