Multi-market Contact and Reinforcement in Internet Enterprises: Evidence from Micro-level Enterprise Survey Data

Has the widespread formation and solidification of the multi-market contact pattern of internet enterprises become a key driver for enterprises to strengthen their market monopoly and build an “imperial ecology”? Based on the micro-level scale and survey data, this paper empirically examines the impact of the degree of multi-market contact on the market monopoly of internet enterprises by using a hierarchical adjustable mediation effect model. It is found that an increase in the degree of multi-market contact significantly enhances the market monopoly level of enterprises, and the impact of multi-market contact on the market monopoly of enterprises is positively moderated by the similarity of enterprise scale and resources between enterprises. Larger-scale enterprises with higher resource similarity are more likely to strengthen the “mutual deterrence” effect, leading to the division of segmented markets among internet enterprises. Finally, the market entry strategy has become an intermediary variable for multi-market contact to strengthen the monopoly degree of internet enterprises. It is precisely because internet enterprises are more inclined to adopt an internalized entry approach that the competition’s monopoly is further formed. Based on these findings, this paper proposes some suggestions for anti-monopoly supervision of internet enterprises.