产业链整合视角下电商平台企业的成长机理——来自市场渠道变革的新证据

Research on the Growth Mechanism of E-commerce Platform Enterprises from the Perspective of Industry Chain Integration——New Evidence from Market Channel Change

采用探索性案例分析研究方法,以三家具有典型产业链整合行为的电商平台企业为样本,动态化考察电商平台企业实施产业链整合的动机与方式,结果表明:电商平台企业的产业链整合行为具有阶段差异性,即企业初创期进行产业链横向整合、成长期进行产业链纵向整合,成熟期进行“横向+纵向”的模块化整合,相应地,企业所处市场渠道也会发生变革,依次表现为渠道结构扁平化、渠道关系复杂化、渠道功能多样化;电商平台企业通过选择差异化的阶段成长策略(包括服务优化策略、核心能力策略与生态化策略),以实现快速成长;交易成本节约是产业链整合行为促使市场渠道发生变革的直接原因,也是电商平台企业能够利用产业链整合获取快速成长的根本原因,并且成本节约的具体内容也存在阶段性差异,即初创期主要表现为信息成本的节约,成长期有利于减少谈判成本和物流成本,成熟期则能够大幅度地降低包括融资成本在内的整个社会的交易成本。因此,既要合理利用产业链整合行为加速电商平台企业成长,也要重视企业所处市场渠道的相关基础设施建设,同时密切关注其市场份额的变化,加强市场监管,避免出现不利于市场正当竞争的行为。

Using exploratory case study method and taking three typical e-commerce platform enterprises as samples,the authors dynamically examine the motives and ways of implementing industrial chain integration for e- commerce platform enterprises. The results show that there are differences in industry chain integration behavior of e-commerce platform enterprises at different stages. The dividing basis of the initial stage,growth stage and maturity stage of an enterprise is the horizontal integration of the industrial chain,the vertical integration of the industrial chain and the implementation of the "horizontal + vertical" modular integration behavior. Correspondingly,the market channels in which enterprises are located will also undergo changes,which are manifested in the following aspects:flat channel structure,complicated channel relationship and diversified channel functions. E-commerce platform enterprises can achieve rapid growth by choosing differentiated stage growth strategies, including service optimization strategy,core competence strategy and ecological strategy. Transaction cost savings are the direct cause of market channel changes caused by industrial chain integration,and also the fundamental reason why e- commerce platform enterprises can use industrial chain integration to achieve rapid growth. Moreover,the specific content of cost savings also differs in different stages:the initial stage is mainly characterized by information cost savings,while growth period is conducive to reducing negotiation costs and logistics costs,maturity period can greatly reduce the transaction costs of the whole society,including financing costs. Therefore,we should not only make rational use of the industry chain integration to accelerate the growth of e-commerce platform enterprises,but also pay attention to the construction of market channel infrastructure. At the same time,we should pay close attention to the changes of market share of these enterprises,strengthen market supervision,and avoid unfavorable market legitimate competition behavior.