建立在降低買方搜尋成本的商業模式的危機 --- 阿里巴巴電子市集的探索

Abstract

中國最大的電子市集阿里巴巴對於中國經濟發展有重大影響，因為它協助將中國的中小企業串接上區域甚至全球供應鏈；而這樣的發展模式正是聯合國貿易暨發展會議所建議開發中國家最有效的發展模式。因著它發展的潛力，阿里巴巴宣布在2007年秋天將公開上市。但本研究發現阿里巴巴正面臨：快速流失的訪客量以及頁面瀏覽量這兩個嚴重的問題。 這個問題的起因可以藉由Clemons所提出來的「趨中化假設」來解釋。Malone在1989年提出來的電子市集假設 (Electronic Market Hypothesis, EMH) 認為因著資訊科技的發展，企業體之間溝通協調成本隨之減少，越來越多的商業活動會藉著市場機制來協調 (Market Coordination)，而不再倚賴階層式協調機制 (Hierarchical Coordination)。因此廠商將會在市場上購買它所需要的元件而不倚賴自己生產，所以類似阿里巴巴這樣的電子市集會蓬勃發展。但「趨中化假設」認為貿易雙方在交易過程中還有很多隱藏成本無法由資訊科技所解決，因此廠商不會無限制的倚賴市場機制來取得所需貨品。廠商的確會外包，但只會跟固定貿易夥伴從事交易。簡單來說阿里巴巴原本藉以創造價值的「降低買方搜尋成本」已不再為會員提供價值 (會員已找到長期合作夥伴)，阿里巴巴必須正視會員需求的改變，並且新增會員目前所需的服務。 根據過去的研究顯示電子市集產生價值的方式有三：降低買方搜尋成本、供應鏈整合以及提供交易相關的商業服務。本研究認為因為中國市場的特性包括：中小企業為主、資訊科技軟硬體不足以及中國商人交易習慣等，供應鏈整合的可行性較低；而因中小企業缺乏國際交易知識、不同地區交易習慣迥異這樣的環境，提供了阿里巴巴一個發展商業服務很好的機會。 總結，本研究探索阿里巴巴目前營運模式，遇到的困境、困境背後成因以及提供可能的解決方法，以供參考。

China’s biggest Electronic Market Place (EMP), Alibaba.com, has prime effects on its economic developments; because Alibaba.com helps connect small and medium size firms (SMEs) to regional and global supply chains. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) pointed this out as the short-cut to prosperity for developing countries. Because of its potential, Alibaba.com announced its IPO plan to be rolled out in Fall 2007. However, this study found out Alibaba.com is now facing two serious problems now: losing web traffic, as well as daily page views dramatically. Causes of the problems could be explained by the ‘Move-to-the-Middle-Hypothesis’ proposed by Clemons. In 1989, Malone proposed the Electronic Market Hypothesis which reckoned that with the development of IT, coordination cost between business entities was reduced, hence more and more business activities would be coordinated by Market mechanisms (Market Coordination) rather than Hierarchy mechanisms (Hierarchical Coordination). As a result, firms would source products from markets as opposed to producing them by themselves and therefore EMPs such as Alibaba.com would be prosperous. However, Move-to-the-Middle-Hypothesis argued that hidden-cost in bi-lateral transactions couldn’t be addressed by IT alone; thus firms would not rely completely on markets for sourcing. Firms do outsource but only to a limited number of suppliers and tend to develop long-term relationships with them. Alibaba.com once generated economic value by reducing “buyer search cost.” However, the model doesn’t work anymore since its members have found business partners to maintain long term relationships with. Alibaba.com must recognize the change in members needs and launch new services to match the needs of its current members. Based on literature review, EMPs create economic value in three ways: buyer search cost reduction, supply chain integration and providing business services. This study found that thanks to Chinese characteristics such as SMEs, a prime constituent of the Chinese economy, and lack of IT infrastructure and informality in business conduction, supply chain integration is not practical. However, the same characteristics produce a strong need for business services because SMEs lack cross-border trading knowledge. In summary, the research investigated the current operational model of Alibaba.com, the crisis facing it, the cause of the crisis and possible solutions to the crisis.