From smile curve to wicked smile? The role of e-commerce platforms in reshaping industry value chains and empowering clusters

This study examines how e-commerce platforms reshape traditional value chains by analysing China’s furniture industry and three representative clusters. Conceptually, we introduce the ‘wicked smile’ hypothesis to postulate how platformisation transforms value creation and distribution at the industry level. Empirically, our comparative cluster-level analysis reveals that platforms exert uneven impacts across regions. While emerging clusters can enter higher value activities via platforms, their long-term competitiveness is constrained by their initial limitations. Furthermore, platforms disproportionately capture value, limiting latecomer clusters to achieve true catch-up. These findings highlight the complex and paradoxical role of platforms in cluster development and related regional industrial transformation.