摘要
数字经济中存在边际收益递增,然而在微观层面上企业如何实现边际收益递增却鲜有研究。以百度搜索业务为典型案例,沿着1P理论的分析思路,利用供需均衡图对用户资源型商业模式的边际收益和利润空间进行经济学分析的研究发现:(1)当把“用户资源”视为具有知识属性的商品时,原第三方广告主向右下方倾斜的需求曲线D_(2)转变为向右上方倾斜的需求曲线D_(2)',进而得到向右上方倾斜的边际收益递增曲线MR_(2)',从而实现了焦点企业的边际收益递增。(2)焦点企业的组合定价策略与其总利润之间的关系为:随着焦点企业对目标用户的定价逐渐降低和对第三方广告主的定价逐渐提高,焦点企业总利润不断增加。(3)边际收益递增条件下焦点企业仍然存在利润最大化的产出规模。当从消费者处获取的负的边际收益的绝对值等于该企业从第三方广告主处获得的正的边际收益(|MR1|=MR_(2)',MR_(1)<0)时,焦点企业达到利润最大化的产出规模。最后,与传统经济学中供给曲线与需求曲线相交存在唯一均衡价格不同,在数字经济中可能存在需求曲线与供给曲线重合的情况,此时曲线上的任意一点均对应均衡产量和均衡价格。
Previous studies find that marginal revenue increases in the digital economy.However,at the micro level,few research focus on the approach focal firms adopted to increase marginal revenue through business model design.This paper presents Baidu’s search business as a typical case,applies the analysis of the“1P theory,”and uses the supply-demand balance diagram to conduct an economic analysis of the marginal revenue and profit level of focal firms adopting user-resource-based business models.The findings of this study are as follows.First,when‘user-resource’is regarded as a commodity with knowledge attributes,the downward-sloping demand curve(D_(2))of the original third-party advertisers becomes the upward-sloping demand curve(D_(2)'),resulting in an upward-sloping marginal revenue increasing curve(MR_(2)').This leads to an increasing marginal revenue of the focal firm.This conclusion establishes consistency between theoretical pricing and actual pricing in real business.Specifically,as the number of Baidu search engine users increases,the willing price paid by third-party advertisers is higher.Second,the relationship between the portfolio pricing strategy and the total profit of the focal firm is as follows:as the focal firm gradually decreases pricing for target users and increases pricing for third-party advertisers,the total profit of the focal firm continues to increase.In other words,the user-resource-based business model in the digital economy can achieve a win-win situation for all three parties:the focus firms,such as the Baidu search business,gain more profits;target users,such as search engine users,gain more value;and third-party associated users,such as advertisers,gain more user resources.Third,under the condition of increasing marginal revenue,the focal firm still has the output scale to maximize profits.In the Baidu search business,the market scale of the information search business is limited.As the marginal search service output increases,the price of the service significantly decreases.This means that the absolute value of the negative price of the unit marginal search service output will continue to increase(it can be regarded as the cost of obtaining user resources).When the absolute value|MR1|(MR1<0)of the negative marginal revenue obtained from the search engine user is equal to the positive marginal revenue MR2'obtained from the third-party advertiser,the focal firm reaches the output scale of maximizing profit.In contrast to the above conclusion,the profit maximization output scale in traditional real economics is usually determined according to the marginal revenue equal to its marginal cost(MR=MC).In this study,the marginal contribution has three aspects.First,the zero variable cost attribute of digital products can bring huge cost advantages to enterprises,but it is not a sufficient condition for enterprises to realize increasing marginal revenue.In other words,although digital products have a huge advantage in their cost-effectiveness,marginal revenue increase cannot be achieved without taking users into consideration.Second,user participation is the prerequisite for a focal firm to achieve increasing marginal revenue,which also reveals the core logic behind concepts such as“user traffic first,”“the one who wins users wins the world,”and“the demand is the supply.”Under the condition of increasing marginal revenue,the output scale of focal firms to maximize profits can be achieved through a portfolio pricing strategy.Although the user-resource-based business model can achieve increasing marginal revenue,the limited demand scale of the single market determines that the focal firm still has a profit maximization output scale.Finally,the relevant assumptions,balance analysis,and research conclusions based on the digital economy context are particularly applicable to the design of digital business models of enterprises.They do not contradict with the existing enterprise economic theories in the real economy context.
作者
李鸿磊
Li Hongei(School of Economics and Management,Beijing Information Science and Technology University,Beijing 100192,P.R.China)
出处
《山东大学学报（哲学社会科学版）》
CSSCI
北大核心
2023年第4期137-149,共13页
Journal of Shandong University(Philosophy and Social Sciences)
基金
国家社科基金一般项目“数字经济驱动中国制造业企业生态型商业模式创新与管理变革研究”(20BGL094)。
关键词
数字经济
边际收益递增
商业模式
用户资源
双边非平台业务
边际非稀缺资源
Digital economy
Increasing marginal revenue
Business model
User resource
Bilateral non-platform business
Marginal non-scarce resource
作者简介
李鸿磊,北京信息科技大学经济管理学院副教授,北京100192,lee_hl@126.com。
