时间竞争策略对时间和成本的影响——基于中西部地区汽车产业的实证研究

The Influence of Time-based Competition Strategy on Time and Cost:Evidence from Mid-west Aarea Automobile Industry in China

基于时间竞争(Time-Based Competition,TBC)的公司由于采取了基于时间竞争战略策略而能够快速地响应顾客需求,从而获得了比竞争对手更大的利润和市场份额。但是,不同的TBC策略对于时间、成本的影响也会有所不同。本文以124家中西部地区的汽车企业为样本,分析了18种TBC策略与时间、成本之间的相互关系。研究表明,在我国的汽车行业,时间已经成为企业改善内部运作效率,降低成本的主要手段;采用研发并行作业、选择少量的供应商以发展长期战略关系等五种策略能够保证时间和成本两种竞争优势的同时实现。另外,本文依据对时间和成本的不同影响将TBC策略划分为四类,这有助于企业根据不同的竞争需要选择不同的TBC策略。同时,本文也从实证上证明了在企业层面上时间是影响成本的主要因素以及TBC若干策略的实施有助于企业在满足成本的前提下,获得时间缩短的竞争优势等理论论述。

With time being the most important competition resources following price, variety and quality, the expenses that enterprises invest on time compression are increasing. Generally, time＇s reducing can cause cost＇s in- creasing. But the facts that came from time-based competition （TBC） all over world show that the quick new prod- uct development speed and delivery speed can be contribute to the reduce of cost and the increase in profit. Time- based competition company which can respond rapidly to customer demand has obtained greater profits and market share than its competitors as a result of time-based strategy （TBS）. But different TBS influence the time and the cost differently. This paper takes 124 mid-west automotive companies in China as a sample, analyzes the relation- ship between 18 kinds of TBS and time and cost. The following are the main creative points. Firstly, this paper proves the theoretical discussion that at the enterprise level, time is the main factor that af- fecting cost. In China＇s automotive industry, time has become the main means to improve internal operational effi- ciency, reduce costs and improve financial performance with shorter time to achieve the reduction of business costs. From a theoretical point of view, this finding proves that the influence on the time to the overall financial perform- ance can be achieved by cost reduction. It also proves the theoretical discourse that time is not only the intermedi- ate variable for the TBS influence on performance, but quality and costs may also be the intermediate variables （Drog et al, 2004）. The research suggests that in China＇s automobile industry, time has become the principal means of improving internal operational efficiency and reducing cost. Secondly, the implementation of TBC can reduce both time and cost. The research suggests that R ＆ D con- current operations, selecting a small number of suppliers to develop long-term strategic relationship, and so five kinds of strategies can ensure that the time and cost of competitive advantage are achieved simultaneously. Theoreti- cally, TBC is not to give up price, quality and variety, but to achieve these goals under the premise of a timely re- sponse to the needs of customers （ Stalk, 1988）. This has positive theoretical value for the current TBC research that how to prove that TBC strategy can achieve time, quality and cost at the same time. From the TBC literature, the only empirical study testing the three competitive elements relationship between time, cost and quality is the re- search of Jayanth and Sanjay （ 1998）, who investigate the TBS of the influence on time and the quality simultane- ously. Although those scholars （Toni, 2000; Cui Song et. al, 2006） theoretically analyzed some TBS could reduce time and cost, but not empirically proved such relationship. This study can explain the phenomenon that the company applying TBS can obtain bigger market share and higher profit and dominant competition position, and it can empiri- cally explain the coincident relationship between traditional time ＆ cost trade-off and TBC＇s time ＆ cost trade-off. Thirdly, according to the influence on the time and the cost, the TBS can be divided into four categories, which helps companies compete according to different strategies aims and to select different TBS. This also proves TBS can＇t help all companies improve time and cost or get higher profits simultaneously, but it＇s true for the automo- tive industry at least. This study finds that some TBS can improve time, some can improve both time and cost , while others do not significantly impact on the time and cost. This conclusion shows that in the TBC, enterprises should not blindly select TBS, but select the most suitable TBS according to their own needs and industry character- istics, as well as improvement area of time or cost. The study has practical significance to guide enterprise TBC＇s practice. The author thinks that the main reason for the different effects of TBS to the time and cost is the unique automotive industry or Chinese cultural characteristics, but this requires further study.