「釋義」

網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)指產(chǎn)品價(jià)值隨購(gòu)買(mǎi)這種產(chǎn)品及其兼容產(chǎn)品對(duì)消費(fèi)者的數(shù)量增加而增加。

最常見(jiàn)的例子是電信系統(tǒng)或社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)：當(dāng)人們都不使用電話時(shí)，安裝電話是沒(méi)有價(jià)值的，而電話越普及，安裝電話的價(jià)值就越高；采用某一種社交媒體的用戶人數(shù)越多，每一位用戶獲得越高的使用價(jià)值。

在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)、傳媒、航空運(yùn)輸、金融等行業(yè)普遍存在網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)。在具有網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)的產(chǎn)業(yè)中，先發(fā)優(yōu)勢(shì)和贏家通吃是市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的重要特征。

「應(yīng)用場(chǎng)景」

創(chuàng)業(yè)者真正的重點(diǎn)，是在其細(xì)分中首先開(kāi)創(chuàng)高流通性市場(chǎng)。贏家網(wǎng)絡(luò)市場(chǎng)首先弄清，如何能實(shí)現(xiàn)供應(yīng)方和買(mǎi)方互惠交易，而非做第一個(gè)吃螃蟹的人。事實(shí)也的確如此，很多可圈可點(diǎn)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)市場(chǎng)都不是急先鋒。Airbnb在VRBO出現(xiàn)10多年后才成立；阿里巴巴是在eBay進(jìn)入中國(guó)之后；優(yōu)步的優(yōu)步X模仿了Lyft的p2p出租車(chē)商業(yè)模式。

Entrepreneurs should really focus on being the first to create a liquid market in their segment. The winning marketplace is the first one to figure out how to enable mutually beneficial transactions between suppliers and buyers—not the first one out of the gate. Indeed, many prominent marketplaces were not first movers: Airbnb was founded more than a decade after VRBO; Alibaba was a second mover in China after eBay; and Uber’s UberX copied Lyft’s peer-to-peer taxi business model.

為什么成為先行者沒(méi)有如通常想象中具有的優(yōu)勢(shì)多？原因在于，在網(wǎng)絡(luò)市場(chǎng)向買(mǎi)賣(mài)雙方證明其價(jià)值前追尋早期增長(zhǎng)，會(huì)讓公司成為后來(lái)者的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)目標(biāo)。如果買(mǎi)賣(mài)雙方用戶不能持續(xù)產(chǎn)生大量?jī)r(jià)值，就會(huì)放棄平臺(tái)。但如果買(mǎi)方能以誘人價(jià)格獲得充足的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)選擇，賣(mài)方能獲得豐厚利潤(rùn)，那么雙方都不會(huì)離開(kāi)該平臺(tái)，強(qiáng)大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)便會(huì)很快奏效：更多的買(mǎi)家能帶來(lái)更多的賣(mài)家，反之亦然。

Why does being the first mover provide less of an advantage than is commonly assumed? The reason is that chasing early growth before a marketplace has proved its value to both buyers and sellers leaves the business vulnerable to competition from later entrants. If either side’s users do not derive significant value on a consistent basis, they will readily jump ship. But when buyers have access to a sufficient selection of products or services at attractive prices and sellers earn attractive profits, neither side has an incentive to go elsewhere, and strong network effects kick in rapidly: More buyers bring more sellers and vice versa.

以上文字選自《哈佛商業(yè)評(píng)論》中文版2016年4月刊《網(wǎng)絡(luò)市場(chǎng)陷阱》

安德烈·哈丘（Andrei Hagiu）西蒙·羅斯曼（Simon Rothman）?丨文

馬冰侖?丨編輯?