E-business platforms have become a major driver for future economic development． However，only a few literatures focus on e-business platform，particularly the empirical research on generation of attractive capabilities of e-business platforms． Based on modular systems theory and related literatures on control mechanisms，this paper models how platform flexibility，platform control，and interaction of platform flexibility and platform control affect the attractive capabilities from the platform-retailers’perspective． Through an empirical study of 185 firms，this paper finds that platform flexibility，formal control，and relational control positively affect the attractive capabilities． In addition，platform flexibility and formal control are substitutes in their effect on platform attractive capabilities，and platform flexibility and relational control are complements in their effect on platform attractive capabilities． The complementary effect of formal control and relational control is also confirmed． Our results extends the application of modular systems theory and control mechanisms，and also provide useful suggestions to e-business platform managers．