企业网络升级研究前沿梳理与未来展望

A Review of Theoretical Research Frontier of Enterprise Network Upgrading and Prospects

企业网络是由两个以上的企业基于一定的目的以各种复杂多样的经济联结和社会联结建立起来的一种稳定持久的合作组织形式。企业网络具有高度动态性,研究企业网络的动态发展过程,厘清企业网络升级的一般机理,捕获企业网络升级的路径选择,对于提高企业网络整体竞争力具有极其重要的意义。本文基于Web of Science数据库,搜集并梳理了1990—2016年间国外关于企业网络升级的文献,对企业网络升级的内涵、动力、内在机理及路径选择四大热点问题进行了系统分析,并展望了未来研究方向,以期为进一步的深入探讨提供导引。

Enterprise network is highly dynamic, and to study the dynamic development process of enterprise network, clarify the mechanism of general network upgrading, and capture the path selection of enterprise network upgrading, has very important significance to the improvement of the overall competitive ability of enterprise network. Based on Web of Science database, this paper collects and combs the 1990-2016 foreign related literature about enterprise network upgrading, and than analyzes four hot issues： connotation, power, internal mechanism and path selection of enterprise network upgrading. Enterprise network upgrading refers to a kind of organizational value-added activities resulting from active governance of network main bodies driven by a series of elements. Weick and Quinn （1999） said organizational positive growth is continuous and section changes alternately, resulting from criticism and improvement of existing organization state, and gradual adaption to the external environment by organizational managers. Therefore, on the basis of detailed literature, this paper divides power elements of enterprise network upgrading as cost orientation, performance feedback, strategic choice and environmental impact, and argues that under the impetus of these elements, network upgrading happens. Network upgrading is endogenous growth process, and its essence lies in thereconstruction of various kinds of complex relationships within a network. Jack etc （2010） divided the network relation into embedded network relation and power relation, put forward that the interpretation of embedded relation and power relation could profoundly reveal the essence of enterprise network evolution. Embedded relation is impacted by continuous driving factors, and follows the dynamic development from simple evolution to complex evolution. With the continuous network development, the connotation of network embedded relation is increasingly enriched. The essence of embedded relationship development is the constant network structure change, presenting the transformation from simple structure to network form with the rich ＂structural holes＂ and ＂bridges＂; and power relation is a complex and recessive change, reflecting the changes in enterprise network relations gradually from balance to grading, finally to the whole network upgrading driven by the core enterprises. Different embedded relations and power relations, and different sequence patterns and distance gap phenomena brought by their continuous expansion, differentiation and variation form the inner mechanism of the network upgrading basically. As for the research of enterprise network upgrading path, at present foreign literature is not rich, the research background is mainly based on industrial clusters, but the research conclusions are relatively concentrated： the first is network node selective upgrading path research based on the theory of network growth （Sadler, 2004; Foruahl and Menzel, 2010）; the second is the network stage upgrading path research based on the theory of the life cycle （Heggie and Hut, 2003; Maskell and Malmberg, 2007）; the third is network expansibility upgrading path research based on the theory of global value chain （Dicken, 2001）. In conclusion, our predecessors in this field through long-term continuous exploration, have formed rich research achievements, but there still is larger research space in some ways： firstly, the network upgrading is the dynamic process of changes in all kinds of relations which are impacted by a series of internal and external factors. Enterprise network upgrading research should be based on inter-organiza- tional relationships, and analyze dynamic evolution process of network value promotion through enterprise network upgrading path selection triggered by changes in inter-organizational relationships. Therefore, further research needs to systematically think front, mediation, adjustment and outcome variables of enterprise network upgrading, and then build the theoretical network upgrading evolution model, in order to clarify the logical relationship between various variables. Secondly, all kinds of upgrading do not necessarily realize the ＂positive＂ upgrading as expected, so the subsequent research needs to dig deeper into the relevant elements that affect the upgrading, enhance the research of upgrading direction, amplitude, and the problems of the ＂disconnection＂ risk, and avoid the risk of upgrading as far as possible. Thirdly, along with the development of world economic integration, China＇s enterprise network gradually add in the global value chain to participate in market competition, but due to a lack of technical ability and management intervention by developed countries, are deep in upgrading paradox. This requires that Chinese scholars, based on China＇s national conditions, take the new normal of China＇s economic development as the background, build a set of scientific, forward- looking and strategic theories of Chinese enterprise network upgrading, capture a new approach to net- work transformation and upgrading in China, and improve the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises.