{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,15]],"date-time":"2025-10-15T07:12:17Z","timestamp":1760512337422,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]],"date-time":"2025-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760400000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["71771080"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["71771080"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Value-added services (VASs) are widely used to incentivize user adoption in the platform economy. While considering the symmetry of cross-network externalities of a platform, i.e., suppliers and manufacturers exert balanced and mutually reinforcing influences on each other\u2019s participation, this study develops a stylized game model to investigate platforms\u2019 optimal bilateral user pricing decisions and VAS provision strategies, such as outsourcing to a third-party service provider (Model OS) or in-house provision (Model PS). Then, the platform\u2019s and the third-party service provider\u2019s optimal pricing decisions are derived, and the equilibrium results are compared. The findings demonstrate that a platform should implement Model PS when the outsourced VAS cost coefficient is sufficiently high or the outsourced VAS quality and cost coefficient are low concurrently. Only when the outsourced VAS quality is relatively high and cost coefficient is in a low range should a platform choose Model OS. Additionally, to address the problem of declines in supply chain members\u2019 profits caused by investment in low-quality outsourced VASs (VAS utility provided by a third party exceeds the specific value 1.38), this study also proposes a feasible VAS cost-sharing contract (Model CS) to incentivize the third-party provider to provide investment in high-quality VASs. The contract design can achieve a \u201cwin-win\u201d outcome when the sharing ratio is at a moderate rate (especially a range from 0.291 to 0.5) and the outsourced VAS cost coefficient meets suitable thresholds.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym17101730","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]],"date-time":"2025-10-14T13:41:29Z","timestamp":1760449289000},"page":"1730","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Optimal Value-Added Service Outsourcing Strategies and Bilateral Pricing Decisions of Two-Sided Platforms with Symmetric Cross-Network Externalities"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-0319-9479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huabao","family":"Zeng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Maritime Law and Transportation Management, Guangzhou Maritime University, Guangzhou 510725, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5952-3090","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tong","family":"Shu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yue","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330032, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jinhong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5773-998X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shouyang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108065","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpe.2021.108065","article-title":"Optimal pricing strategies for manufacturing-as-a service platforms to ensure business sustainability","volume":"234","author":"Chaudhuri","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. 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