从成本竞争走向质量竞争: 产品网络如何改变出口企业竞争策略?

From cost-based competence to quality-based competence:How does export networks alter the exporters’competition strategy?

基于2000–2015年海关贸易数据库,本文识别了中国企业的出口竞争策略倾向,并考察了内、外部产品网络对企业改变竞争策略的影响及其机制.研究发现,企业普遍采取成本竞争策略参与出口,但企业可以通过趋近内、外部网络降低企业的成本竞争倾向;并且,当两种趋近程度都达到较高水平时,企业可以从成本竞争转向质量竞争.机制分析表明,更高的产品质量差异度和更大的市场需求会削弱企业的成本竞争倾向;靠近外部产品网络主要通过强化产品质量差异的渠道减弱成本竞争倾向,靠近内部产品网络主要通过强化出口市场需求的渠道提高质量竞争倾向.异质性分析表明,由于信息流动的影响将受制于知识汲取、转移与扩散的流畅程度,这种网络效应对新进企业和内资企业更有效,但在政策支持下会遭到削弱.研究结论不仅揭示了企业利用产品网络的信息流动提升出口竞争力的可行性,更对产业政策实施的优化提出了更多元化的思考.

Based on the customs trade database from 2000–2015,this paper identifies Chinese firms’tendency to export competitive strategies and examines the impact of internal and external product networks on firms’changing competitive strategies and their mechanisms.It is found that firms generally adopt cost-competitive strategies to participate in exports,but firms can reduce their cost-competitive tendencies by converging on internal and external networks.And when both convergence levels reach a high level,firms can shift from cost-based competence to qualitybased competence.The mechanism analysis shows that higher product quality differentiation and greater market demand will weaken firms’cost competitive tendency;proximity to external product networks weakens cost competitive tendency mainly through the channel of strengthening product quality differentiation,and proximity to internal product networks improves quality competitive tendency mainly through the channel of strengthening export market demand.The heterogeneity analysis shows that this network effect is more effective for new entrants and domestic firms but is weakened by policy support,as the impact of information flow will be limited by the fluency of knowledge extraction,transfer and diffusion.The findings of the study not only reveal the feasibility of enterprises using information flow of product networks to enhance export competitiveness,but also suggest more diversified thinking on the optimization of industrial policy implementation.