Abstract:  Platform complementors have become an increasingly important object of platform research. By combining the VOSviewer bibliometric analysis method with the traditional literature review method, the ecological relationships of complementors are systematically sorted out and the strategic choices that complementors make when dealing with various ecological relationships are identified. The study shows that: (1) research achievements on platform complementors are increasingly fruitful, and the value creation process is a current research hotspot; (2) platform complementors have governing and governed relationship, cooperative and competitive relationship, independent value satisfaction and network value delivery relationship with platform owners, other complementors, users, respectively; (3) on the basis of clarification of the ecological relationships, platform complementors can select the corresponding ecological strategy according to different members and different strategic purposes. The potential directions for future research on complementors are also pointed out.

Key words: platform ecosystem, complementor ecological strategy, ecological relationship, literature review