Value Co-Creation and the Sustainable Development of the Retail Business Ecosystem: A Case Study of "PDL"

From the perspective of value co-creation, this paper adopts the grounded theory research method, takes Henan local retail enterprise Pang Donglai as a single case, and systematically analyzes the construction mechanism of the retail business ecosystem.Through three-level coding of multi-source data—including official documents, authoritative media reports, and user-generated content—we develop a three-stage model comprising "value foundation," "value dissemination," and "value implementation." Our findings reveal that Pang Donglai first establishes a robust value foundation through internal practices such as employee-centric value orientation, humanistic care systems, customer trust cultivation, product value reorientation, industry empowerment, and social responsibility initiatives. Subsequently, the company achieves external value dissemination through the founder's philosophical influence, authoritative endorsements, external community resonance, and open value systems. Ultimately, through ideological recognition, knowledge precipitation, capability transplantation and sustainable operation, value is deeply embedded into partner enterprises to achieve value realization.These three sequential stages progressively reinforce one another, collectively shaping the dynamic construction pathway of retail business ecosystems.