摘要
随着数字平台经济发展和市场竞争加剧,平台企业围绕核心业务通过跨界并购拓展新业务、构建生态系统的现象日益普遍,引发诸多新的经济学问题。本文以平台间网络外部性(即不同业务平台用户之间存在的交互作用)为切入点,通过构建霍特林竞争模型探究平台跨界并购对企业利润绩效的影响机理,利用2014~2021年上市数字平台企业并购样本数据对部分理论分析结果进行实证检验,并结合平台间重合用户数对“百度跨界投资知乎”案例进行分析。研究发现,跨界并购能够提高平台企业的竞争优势和盈利能力。在平台间网络外部性的作用下,平台企业在跨界并购后可以利用跨平台的非对称定价策略扩大用户规模,以高价业务平台收益弥补低价业务平台损失的交叉补贴方式提高整体利润。并且,目标平台竞争优势越大、主并平台市场覆盖率越低,则跨界并购越能提高利润水平。由于更多的用户向实施跨界并购的平台聚集,未实施并购的独立平台将处于竞争劣势,其利润绩效通常会遭受损失。本文基于平台间网络外部性揭示平台跨界并购的经济动因和内在逻辑,丰富了企业并购和双边市场理论,对于平台跨界竞争与合作问题研究具有一定的参考价值,对平台企业商业实践和相关公共政策实施也有启示意义。
With the development of digital platform economy and intensified market competition,the phenomenon of platform firms expanding new businesses and building ecosystems through cross-sector mergers around their core businesses is becoming more and more common,which triggers a lot of new economic issues.This paper focuses on the characteristics of inter-plaform network externalities resulting from interactions between different business platforms.It constructs a Hotelling model to investigate the impact of cross-sector mergers on platform firms profitability and its internal mechanisms.Some empirical tests are conducted using data from listed digital platform companies'merger transactions from 2014 to 2021.The study also includes a case study of Baidu's cross-sector investment in Zhihu,considering the overlap of users between platforms.The research findings indicate that cross-sector mergers can enhance platform firms*competitive advantages and profitability.Leveraging inter-platform network externalities,post-merger platform firms can use asymmetric pricing strategies across platforms to expand user scale.Cross-subsidization,where profits from high-priced business platforms compensate for losses on low-priced business platforms,improves overall profit.Moreover,the greater the competitive advantage of the target platform and the lower the coverage rate in the main platform market,the more cross-sector mergers can enhance profit levels.As more users gather on platforms implementing cross-sector mergers,independent platforms without such merger implementation will face disadvantages and typically suffer a decline in profitability.Based on inter-platform network externalities,this paper reveals the motivations and economic logic behind platform cross-sector mergers,enriching merger theory and two-sided market theory.It provides valuable insights for studying cross-sector competition or cooperation issues and offers guidance for the business practices of platform companies and related public policyimplementations.
作者
徐洪海
张贵娟
刘玉斌
刘婵
Xu Honghai;Zhang Guijuan;Liu Yubin;Liu Chan(School of International Economics and Business,Nanjing University of Finance and Economics;School of International Trade and Economics,Anhui University of Finance and Economics;School of Business,Tianjin University of Finance and Economics)
出处
《管理世界》
北大核心
2025年第7期210-227,共18页
Journal of Management World
基金
国家自然科学基金项目“基于平台间网络外部性的数字平台跨界竞争效应与监管政策研究”(基金号:72103085)的资助。
关键词
数字平台
跨界并购
平台间网络外部性
企业利润
双边市场
digital platform
cross-sector mergers
inter-platform network externalities
firm profit
two-sided markets
