TY - JOUR AB - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore research opportunities for service innovation and system design in network platforms by investigating representative case examples in an emerging market, China.Design/methodology/approach The authors provide four case examples to illustrate the manner in which network platforms facilitate and lead to service innovation and effective system design. Then, the authors propose nine research directions that present significant research opportunities, and the authors make theoretical and methodological suggestions.Findings The results indicate that research opportunities exist mainly in three areas: ecosystem design and evolution, including role design, coherence and sustainability issues; leader–participant collaboration, including governance, co-opetition and innovation stimulation issues; and transformation of traditional industries, including process informatization, modularization and standardization issues.Originality/value This study extends the platform-related literature by showing new platform features represented by case evidence from emerging economies, and provides recommendations to guide and direct management practices and efforts in platform-based service innovation and system design. VL - 118 IS - 5 SN - 0263-5577 DO - 10.1108/IMDS-03-2017-0130 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-03-2017-0130 AU - Fu Wenhui AU - Wang Qiang AU - Zhao Xiande PY - 2018 Y1 - 2018/01/01 TI - Platform-based service innovation and system design: research opportunities T2 - Industrial Management & Data Systems PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 975 EP - 997 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -