网络效应 / network effect

「释义」

网络效应指产品价值随购买这种产品及其兼容产品对消费者的数量增加而增加。

最常见的例子是电信系统或社交网络服务：当人们都不使用电话时，安装电话是没有价值的，而电话越普及，安装电话的价值就越高；采用某一种社交媒体的用户人数越多，每一位用户获得越高的使用价值。

在互联网、传媒、航空运输、金融等行业普遍存在网络效应。在具有网络效应的产业中，先发优势和赢家通吃是市场竞争的重要特征。

「应用场景」

创业者真正的重点，是在其细分中首先开创高流通性市场。赢家网络市场首先弄清，如何能实现供应方和买方互惠交易，而非做第一个吃螃蟹的人。事实也的确如此，很多可圈可点的网络市场都不是急先锋。Airbnb在VRBO出现10多年后才成立；阿里巴巴是在eBay进入中国之后；优步的优步X模仿了Lyft的p2p出租车商业模式。

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.

为什么成为先行者没有如通常想象中具有的优势多？原因在于，在网络市场向买卖双方证明其价值前追寻早期增长，会让公司成为后来者的竞争目标。如果买卖双方用户不能持续产生大量价值，就会放弃平台。但如果买方能以诱人价格获得充足的产品和服务选择，卖方能获得丰厚利润，那么双方都不会离开该平台，强大的网络效应便会很快奏效：更多的买家能带来更多的卖家，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.

以上文字选自《哈佛商业评论》中文版2016年4月刊《网络市场陷阱》

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

马冰仑 丨编辑