众包与供应链耦合:众包供应链演化与驱动模式

Coupling of crowdsourcing and supply chain:Evolution of the crowdsourcing supply chain and its driving mode

"众包"(Crowdsourcing)作为一种基于"互联网+创新"平台的研发模式,正成为当今关注的焦点。根据国内外文献,并结合当前实践经验,本文运用扎根理论和动态演绎的方法,将"众包"和"供应链"进行耦合分析,探讨了"众包供应链"组织结构动态演化路径、驱动模式,以及众包供应链的竞合策略。通过研究发现:(1)"众包供应链"作为一种基于"互联网+创新"的新型供应链,更强调"大众参与和个性化需求"的互联网基因,通过赋能予上下游各方,形成整体共享共赢格局;(2)"众包供应链"源于内部组织,经历内部分化和社区化阶段,然后扩展到具有互联网网络共享效应的,外部开放化和平台化阶段;并且在组织结构动态演化中;(3)存在着四种不同的驱动模式和竞合策略,即基于Post/Pull的驱动模式(先内部合作-后内部竞争的双重策略)、基于Post/Pull/Push驱动模式(单一的合作策略)、基于Post/2Push/Pull驱动模式(先外部竞争-后内部合作的双重策略)、基于Post/Pilot/2Push/Pull驱动模式(先外部竞争—后外部合作的双重策略)。

Product innovation is the top business priority in the industry and a key issue in the academic research. Nowadays, it is becoming a common rule that consumers prefer buying the products designed for themselves to receiving firm′s offerings passively. As a result, personalized preference, tailored design and customized production are dominant in the industry, hence driving firms to engage innovation activities for sharpening their edges. Meanwhile, on one hand, fierce competitions in markets require producers to quickly respond to market demand with a reasonable price, and without sacrificing speed of processing and delivery. On the other hand, a majority of firms belong to small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) and usually lack enough designers or sufficient capital to meet the needs of customers. Despite their great efforts in innovation activities conducted by internal expertise in product innovation, these SMEs are still unsatisfied with their innovation outcomes. Therefore, it has been widely recognized that SMEs need to introduce external talents to supplement their internal innovation capacities and to improve new product design efficiency. As such, there is an emerging focus on ‘crowdsourcing’ with a goal of offering SEMs with the desired innovation solutions. Crowdsourcing, as a new kind of R&D model based on ‘Internet plus innovation’ platform can effectively and efficiently handle this problem, is becoming a current research focus. Drawing from the literatures and practices home and abroad, this paper, by utilizing the Grounded Theory and dynamic deduction method, combine ‘crowdsourcing’ and ‘supply chain’ to dynamically explore the organization structural evolution, and driving mode of crowdsourcing supply chain, and its relevant competition and cooperation tactics as well. Through the analysis, the main findings are as follows:(1) crowdsourcing supply chain, as a new Internet-plus-innovation orientated one, highlights the attributes of Internet-based genes, namely, mass engagement and personalized needs, thus obtaining the win-win outcomes by empowering each member;(2) crowdsourcing supply chain originates from the inter-firm organization to internal decomposition and community stage, to external open and platform stage. Meanwhile,(3) crowdsourcing supply chain has four driving modes and tactics: Post/Pull, Post/Pull/Push, Post/2Push/Pull, Post/Pilot/2Push/Pull. Based on the post/pull driving mode, it is a dual strategy of internal cooperation first and then internal competition. In the internal community stage, it is based on post/pull/Push driven mode, which has complementary and cooperative mechanism, rather than being based on a single cooperation strategy. In the external opening stage, which is based on post/2Push/pull driven mode, it is a dual strategy for external competition first and for internal cooperation later. After external competition and survival of the fittest, supply chain enterprises can improve these schemes internally. In the external platform stage, based on the post/pilot/2Push/pull driving mode, it is a dual strategy for external competition first and for external cooperation later. Under the management of crowdsourcing platform organization, mass online crowdsourcing designers need different individual organizations to split and cooperate on the same design crowdsourcing task. This mode will take more and more shares and dominate in the future market.