Data element investment strategy: How can leaders and followers innovate in dynamic market environments

In the era of the digital economy, the data element investment strategy decisions and game mechanisms of leaders and followers are crucial issues to be studied. To explore the environment in which digital collaboration between enterprises benefits both parties, this study initially proposes a three-stage game model of leaders and followers based on the sequential game method. Subsequently, we analyze the investment strategy choices for leading and following enterprises across six scenarios within dynamic market environments. Finally, numerical simulations are employed to examine the effect of both strategies on the industry and society as a whole. The simulation shows that (1) The cooperation strategy is a more effective approach for enhancing data-driven innovation performance, but when it comes to mature markets, this strategy may conflict with the interests of followers. (2) Followers can benefit from the cooperation strategy by significantly boosting the growth rate of data elements, but it may cause enterprises to lose their original market scale. (3) Excessively high initial production costs can negatively affect the innovative performance of the industry and social wealth, whereas mature industries can achieve greater industry performance and social welfare through investment in data elements. Considering the environmental characteristics of the digital economy, the findings of this study elucidate the ramifications of innovation strategies on enterprises, industries, and society, providing positive insights for two types of enterprises with different strengths to make apt decisions regarding digital cooperation.