摘要
平台正在成为一种普遍的市场或行业组织形式,其功能是不同用户群体创造和交换价值的界面。目前,平台战略研究主要还是基于经济学的概念和分析方法。本文通过对近期平台战略研究文献的综述,在战略管理领域引入平台战略的研究视角,以更好地理解平台型企业的成长和竞争战略。本文首先综述了平台战略的定义和与之相关的性质特征,平台进入和构建战略以及平台包围战略,并重点介绍了平台创新战略和平台创新生态系统。本文认为,在未来的研究中,采用战略管理的相关理论理解平台市场和与之相关的企业成长和竞争,将有助于拓展平台战略研究的理论基础。
Many markets in today＇s economy are organized around platforms ,which function as an interface be- tween different groups of users and facilitate value-creation exchanges. The emergence of industry platforms is a no- vel phenomenon impacting most industries today, from products to services. Industry platforms are building blocks that act as a foundation upon which an array of firms, sometimes called a business ecosystem, can develop comple- mentary products, technologies, or services. These platform-based markets are often viewed as two-sided, because platform providers must get both consumers and developers of complementary applications on board in order to suc- ceed. Firstly, the paper presents the definition and typology of platforms, which identifies the distinct contexts in which different types of platforms appear and summarizes their principal characteristics depending on the context in which they occur. The platforms are designed and used in three main settings, which is internal firms, across supply-chains, as well as industry platforms. So the term ＇ platform＇ is used in three different settings ： product platform, industry plat- form and multi-sided market/platform. The product platform can be defined as projects that create a new generation or family of products for a firm, or a set of common subsystems （ components, modules, or parts） and interfaces from which a stream of derivative products can be efficiently created and launched. Industry Platform are products, serv- ices or technologies that are developed by one or several firms, and that serve as foundations upon which other firms can build complementary products, services or technologies. The platform provider may he a specialist component firm （Wintel） as well as a system integrator （Apple）. Multi-sided platform can be defined as product,firm or insti- tution that mediates transactions across multi-sided markets under network externalities. The literature on platform competition emphasizes the role of network effects, which prescribes rapidly expanding a network of platform users and complementary applications to capture entire markets. The platforms could be updated and evolved dynamically, from internal platform to supply chain platform, from supply chain platform to industry platform, and finally give rise to ＂business ecosystem＂. Platform strategy differs from product strategy in that the former also requires the support of the external ecosystem to generate complementa- ry products and, more important, innovation. The success of an innovating firm often depends on the efforts of other innovators in a platform ecosystem. Thus we arrive at a general definition of platform： A set of stable components that supports variety and evolvability in a system by constraining （defining） the linkages among the other compo- nents. Overall, most research on platform strategy is based on the concept and methodology of economics. By the liter- ature review on platform, the paper introduces a perspective of strategic management. The paper reviews the defini- tion and features of platform, platform entry, platform envelopment as well as platform innovation. According to the strategy of entry into platform-based markets,late entrant can take over market leadership in a platform-based market, and an entrant platform can gain or retain market share when it competes with an incumbent platform. Understanding the relative importance of indirect network effects, product quality, and consumer expecta- tions is of critical importance for platform providers to formulate entry strategies. According to platform envelopment, platform leaders must prepare for the future, even when they are focused and highly successful with their present businesses. This means creating a flexible and creative organization, with people who can learn about new technologies and markets. For example, now Sony finds itself trailing in the newer platform markets, comparatively Google＇s platform was initially based on a better search engine, but it has not stopped there, and bought and then refined the Android operating system and created the Chrome browser to facili- tate mobile computing （and mobile searches as well as advertising）. The platform innovation strategy is the focus of this paper. A platform ecosystem can also provide an emerging orientation to create novelty in business operations. Successful innovations usually depend on cooperation among firms and potential adopters. Intel and Microsoft are focal firms and leaders in its innovation ecosystem respective- ly. In an innovation ecosystem, platform providers are very critical to improve innovation performance. However, those companies play a central role through platforms complementing other products or services. This means the val- ue of a business ecosystem shifts from product to network value, that is to say, networking capabilities enhance the creation and delivery of a company＇s own offerings. Actually, we view this paper as a helpful guide, rather than as a final word. In future, some questions should be further explored, such as how local platform becomes a global platform？ Why different industry platform leader have different capabilities,and what are they？ How does technological paradigm affect industry platform architecture？ In fact, increasingly more platform firms are cultivating and developing new platforms, the future research could exam- ine how new entrants can differentiate themselves by exploiting different dimensions of platform quality and success- fully enter platform-based markets. Finally, the managerial implication and future research are discussed.
出处
《经济管理》
CSSCI
北大核心
2014年第3期190-199,共10页
Business and Management Journal ( BMJ )
基金
国家软科学重大项目"产业技术创新生态体系研究"(2012GXS1B001)
国家自然科学基金重大项目"复杂变化环境下企业组织管理整体系统及其学习变革研究"(71121001/G0204)
关键词
平台战略
创新生态
平台进入战略
平台包围战略
platform strategy
business ecosystem
platform entry strategy
platform envelopment strategy
