bytedance, cross-border e-commerce shein...understanding the growth logic of digital native companies
2024-09-20
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
source | people's forum network - people's forum magazine
please indicate the source when reprinting
from the industrial revolution to the information and telecommunications era, mankind has experienced five waves of technological revolutions from 1771 to 2000. through the five waves of technological revolutions, we can find that each new technological revolution will bring about a series of technological-economic paradigm changes in corporate organization, business model, infrastructure, industrial policy, etc.
entering the 21st century, digital technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing have shown an exponential growth rate, and the digital economy has become an important feature of the era. digital native enterprises have become the most active subjects in the development of the digital economy and technological innovation. they are not only the main force of the new round of technological-economic paradigm change, but also a direct reflection of the future competitiveness of countries around the world.what is the basic growth logic of digital native enterprises? how to achieve sustainable development?let’s pay attention to the exclusive articles of people’s forum.
from 1771 to 2000, mankind has experienced five waves of technological revolution. the first wave was marked by the opening of the arkwright machine spinning mill in manchester in 1771, which marked the beginning of the british industrial revolution and the official entry from the family handicraft era to the factory era. the second wave was marked by the beginning of the british steam and railway era in 1829, when economies of scale and standardized production organizations became increasingly mainstream. the third wave began in the era of steel, electricity and heavy engineering in 1875, when vertically integrated corporate organizations represented by giant steel companies emerged. the fourth wave began in 1908, when large-scale production models and pyramid organizations represented by automobile companies emerged in the united states. the fifth wave began in the information and telecommunications era in the united states in 1971, when a group of it companies began to emerge.
digital native enterprises: the “natives” of the digital economy erathe development of digital native enterprises drives changes in the global competitive landscape. according to statistics, 4 of the top 10 companies in the world by market value in 2023 are digital native companies, 4 are digital and physical integrated companies, and there is 1 energy company and 1 investment company. it can be seen that the rapid development of digital native companies in recent years has brought about a "business earthquake", rewriting and creating a business landscape with digital economic characteristics. the development of digital native companies has brought a series of profound impacts on corporate organizational forms, business models, industrial structures and technological innovation. the continuous interaction and evolution of these impacts will eventually be reflected in changes in the competitive advantages between countries and the global competitive landscape. in recent years, my country's digital economy has grown steadily. the "digital china development report (2023)" shows that in 2023, the added value of my country's core digital economy industries will account for 10% of gdp.digital native companiesthe concept of digital native was proposed by the international data corporation (idc) in 2018 to describe enterprises that are native to digitalization. these enterprises are mainly internet companies, and most of them are cloud native enterprises. from the perspective of digital technology application, idc further defines digital native enterprises as companies that are built around modern cloud native technologies from the beginning. they use data and artificial intelligence in all aspects, from logistics, operations to business models, to customer engagement, and the core value creation and acquisition process of the enterprise relies on digital technology. starting from the perspective of data as the core element of enterprise development, digital native enterprises can be divided into four types: digital platform enterprises, professional data producers, data-based start-ups, and digital-related infrastructure enterprises. from the perspective of obtaining competitive advantages of enterprises, the digital ecosystem composed of digital technology, data elements, users, partners and other factors is an important source of competitive advantages for digital native enterprises. on the whole, the above definition is some basic descriptions of digital native enterprises: born from digital technology, created by data value, and thrived in the digital ecosystem.from a technical perspective, digital native enterprises have digital connection, digital coordination and intelligent decision-making capabilities. first, digital native enterprises rely deeply on cloud infrastructure. by making full use of the elasticity, scalability and efficiency of cloud computing, business data and applications are deployed in the cloud, thereby achieving a wider range of resource connections and quickly establishing connections with customers, strategic partners and stakeholders around the world. this wider range of connections breaks the time and space constraints faced by traditional enterprises, making closer, deeper and more frequent interactions possible. interaction creates more business opportunities, which greatly increases the possibility of business model innovation and the speed of business expansion. secondly, digital native enterprises can use modular architecture to organize, call and combine digital resources. the modular architecture allows enterprises to run multiple testing services at the same time, and quickly integrate resources based on customer feedback, conduct agile development and continuous integration, and make more customized and rapid responses to customer needs. finally, by applying artificial intelligence technology, digital native enterprises can achieve real-time prediction, rapid learning and accurate decision-making, improve the accuracy of decision-making and the efficiency of business operations, and more effectively respond to various market uncertainties and discover potential market opportunities.from the perspective of value creation, data value creation is the core feature of digital native enterprises. digital native enterprises design business models based on the basic logic of "data-information-knowledge". they fully understand and mine data, process data elements through digital technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, generate digital products or services that can be traded in the market, and realize the transformation from data to value creation. in the digital economy era, the competition among digital native enterprises is directly manifested as the competition for data value creation. how to effectively use data to create value has become a proposition that digital native enterprises must answer. with the accelerated development and application of digital technology, data has also experienced explosive generation, accumulation and growth. moreover, unlike capital, labor, material materials, energy, etc., data has the characteristics of being shareable, replicable and renewable. in addition, the development of artificial intelligence technology has greatly improved the efficiency of data processing and reduced the cost of data processing. massive amounts of data can be continuously analyzed, generated, accumulated and applied. according to statistics, my country's data factor market is becoming increasingly active. the total data production in 2023 will reach 32.85zb (1 zb equals 10 trillion bytes), a year-on-year increase of 22.44%; the digital infrastructure continues to expand and accelerate, and the total computing power reaches 230eflops (eflops refers to 100 trillion floating-point operations per second), ranking second in the world.the process of digital native enterprises using data to create value is reflected in many aspects. first, in the product development stage, digital native enterprises can grasp market demand and user preferences more accurately through big data analysis based on more extensive and in-depth interactions with users, so as to design products that better meet user expectations and realize new value creation in the design dimension. secondly, in the marketing stage, through accurate analysis of user data, enterprises can achieve accurate delivery, improve marketing efficiency and conversion rate, and create higher transaction value. thirdly, in the operation stage, data analysis can not only help enterprises monitor business conditions, but also provide predictive maintenance services, reduce enterprise operation and maintenance costs, ensure the stable operation of enterprises, and realize the value-added of operations. it should be emphasized that digital native enterprises have an innate "data thinking". starting from the basic business logic of data creating value, they give full play to the sharable attributes of data in all links of the enterprise, so that the serial process of "r&d-production-sales" in traditional enterprises is transformed into a user-centered parallel process, and the "segment-to-segment" connection between enterprises and users is transformed into an "end-to-end" connection, which improves the development and listing speed of new products or services, meets user needs more quickly and accurately, and realizes value-added throughout the process.from the organizational dimension, ecological organization has become an important organizational form for digital native enterprises. every wave of technological revolution will bring about changes in the organizational form of enterprises, from home workshops to factory organizations, to integrated organizations and mass customization organizations. with the continuous development of digital technology, more and more digital native enterprises are showing a new organizational form - ecological organization. digital native enterprises can cooperate, interact and iterate with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders on a larger scale, at a deeper level and at a faster speed, and complement each other and create value among multiple subjects to form a new value system. for example, in the value creation system of digital native enterprises such as bytedance and shein, users and external supply chains have become important complementors. in the new value system, this complementary relationship has both the traditional complementarity between two parties and more often a multi-party complementary relationship. this new relationship in value creation is different from the market transaction relationship in the general sense, and is also different from the "enterprise-supplier" integrated hierarchical organizational relationship centered on the focal enterprise. as a new organizational form for value creation, ecological organization, it has become the third organizational form for value creation.whether it is the content services provided by bytedance or the clothing products provided by shein, traditional enterprises are usually restricted by data flow, and the provision of products or services is generally static and one-dimensional, unable to adapt to the dynamic changes on the demand side. by establishing a platform ecosystem, digital native enterprises can not only enable users to obtain content services with thousands of faces, allowing users to become content producers and achieve the integration of production and consumption, but also enable users and suppliers to establish a more direct connection through digital platforms, forming a new ecosystem around user needs, and creating value for multiple parties to complement each other. for digital native enterprises, the ability to use data to create value for users determines the boundaries of the enterprise. these ecological organizations start from user needs, cooperate with various partners through digital services and public application programming interfaces (apis), and coordinate and adapt for seamless cooperation between multiple participants. just as the powerful power demonstrated by the integrated organization of steel, automobile, and petrochemical enterprises in the past, the ecological organizations adopted by digital native enterprises are currently bursting with new and unexpected power.
the growth logic of digital native enterpriseswhat is the basic growth logic of digital native enterprises? how to achieve sustainable development? these questions need further exploration. we can analyze them from three aspects: the value proposition of digital native enterprises, the acquisition of competitive advantages, and the driving force for continuous creation of new value.first, create new value from the integration of digital and real. the development and application of digital technology has brought mankind not only the rise of the digital world, but also the accelerated integration of digital and physical. behind the rapid growth of digital native enterprises is the new value of digital-physical integration created by them based on digital technology through digital connection, architecture and intelligence. at present, the development and application of digital technology has surpassed the boundaries covered by the internet. the architecture of digital technology itself - terminals, network connections and cloud (brain) - not only makes it possible to decouple products and services in layers, but also makes it possible to recouple and create personalized value for users. enterprises should not only deliver the products or services that have been formed to users in a one-way manner, but also provide personalized, timely and predictive products or services. from one-way provision to two-way interaction, from passive waiting to active prediction, from large-scale to personalization, this series of new changes in value creation are transforming the entire business world.for example, shein, as a rapidly rising clothing e-commerce platform, has successfully surpassed traditional clothing industry giants by establishing a deep connection between the supply chain system and users through a digital platform. on the one hand, shein uses digital technology to accurately analyze market trends and consumer needs, and conducts in-depth analysis of popular colors, price trends, pattern styles and other data to predict future hot-selling styles, thereby guiding design and production. on the other hand, shein drives the supply chain through data, and realizes an efficient and flexible supply chain with a "small order and fast response" model, which can complete the entire process from capturing trend trends to design, production and delivery within 7 days. this ability to respond quickly to market demand has significantly improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. for another example, the wiscarbon carbon neutrality digital platform provided by a company deeply integrates low-carbon technology and data management. by using technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, it creates a comprehensive service platform that connects users, verification agencies, consulting agencies, and regulatory agencies, and realizes multi-dimensional applications such as carbon data management, carbon footprint management, and carbon asset management. it not only creates new value for the deep decarbonization and even carbon neutrality of the steel industry, but also is used in other industries and enterprises as a third-party platform. through the above case analysis, we can see that digital native enterprises originate from digital technology, but their continued accelerated growth is inseparable from the integration of digital and real. creating new value from the integration of digital and real has become an important value proposition for the continuous development of digital native enterprises.second, unlock network effects to gain competitive advantage. the network effect of digital native enterprises mainly refers to the fact that such enterprises can form an interconnected network among users through their products or services, quickly collect user feedback and information, and then continuously optimize products and services. as the number of users increases, the value each user obtains from the product or service also increases, further improving user satisfaction and loyalty. this network effect is an important source of competitive advantage for digital native enterprises, and the scale of users determines the value of digital native enterprises. for example, social networking platforms gain network advantages through the explosive growth of the number of users, and the value of the platform continues to increase as the number of users increases. in order to stimulate the release of network effects, digital native enterprises usually adopt a series of strategies including accurate user portraits, intelligent personalized recommendations, increased interactive functions, cooperation with other social platforms, word-of-mouth communication, simple user interfaces, and rapid response to user feedback to improve user activity, satisfaction and loyalty, and effectively increase the network effect on the user side.in multi-sided market platforms such as e-commerce platforms, operating system platforms, and large model platforms built by digital native enterprises, as the scale of the supply side or demand side increases, positive feedback is formed between the supply side and the demand side, which can generate cross-side network effects of interaction between supply-side platform complementors and demand-side users, and achieve exponential growth in the number of complementors and consumers. the positive feedback between participants in multi-sided market platforms promotes overall participation and deep interaction, thus forming a digital platform ecosystem including three types of participants: platform providers, complementors, and consumers. through their network effects, the platforms built by these digital native enterprises can attract more developers, partners, and other stakeholders to join their ecosystems. as the ecosystem expands, the platform can provide more diversified services and solutions to meet the needs of more users, further strengthening the network effect and making the platform more attractive and competitive. in particular, as a technical platform provider, digital native enterprises need to pay attention not only to user interaction and user demand satisfaction, but also to the interests of complementors and focus on the realization of multi-party complementary value. in general, deeper interaction between platform users, higher network strength, stronger interdependence between multi-sided complementors, and better coordinated development are the key to platform providers gaining sustainable competitive advantages.in addition, for newly established digital native enterprises, they can obtain network effects through functional innovation and embedding of functional modules. in the established digital platform ecosystem, digital resources such as platform users and complementors have certain shareable and renewable characteristics. therefore, they can embed their own functional modules into one or more mature digital platform ecosystems. for example, pinduoduo adopts the model of social networking and group buying to achieve differentiated development from e-commerce platforms such as taobao and jd.com.finally, digital technology innovation drives sustained growth. on the one hand, digital native enterprises are growing rapidly, but on the other hand, they are also facing fierce competition from homogeneity. overall, in recent years, the characteristics of digital native enterprises gradually moving from transaction and interaction platforms to technology platforms have become increasingly obvious. from the initial development of cloud computing technology by alibaba, baidu and tencent to the development of jd cloud, douyin volcano cloud and kuaishou cloud, it can be seen that digital technology innovation has become the core driving force for the sustained growth of digital native enterprises.digital technology innovation drives the sustainable development of enterprises from three aspects: industry boundaries, user value and operational efficiency. first, expand industry boundaries. for example, baidu has entered the fields of large model applications, autonomous driving, and intelligent body platforms through technological innovation. second, enhance the value of user experience. by introducing new technologies such as machine learning algorithms and virtual reality, it is possible to adjust recommendation strategies in real time to improve user experience and conversion rate. third, improve operational efficiency. by using data-driven methods to manage inventory, predict sales trends and automatically adjust prices, it is possible to ensure stable supply while keeping prices low. at the same time, algorithms can also be used to optimize logistics and distribution.
howdriving the growth of digitally native businesses?first, accelerate the construction of a data resource development and utilization rules system to provide institutional guarantees for the development of digital native enterprises. the construction of a data resource development and utilization rules system will provide institutional guarantees for the development of digital native enterprises. at the same time, the growth and expansion of digital native enterprises will also promote the continuous improvement and optimization of the rules system and promote the high-quality development of the digital economy. the construction of a data resource development and utilization rules system can be accelerated from the following three aspects.first, clarify the data property rights and rights protection. based on the classification of data subjects (such as the public, enterprises, and individuals), we can explore the data ownership division criteria, clarify the rights and responsibilities of all participants in the process of data production, circulation, and use, and establish and improve the legal system arrangements involving key aspects such as data ownership, data transactions, and data use to ensure that the legitimate use and rights of data resources are effectively protected. second, improve data transaction rules. on the basis of implementing unified data standards, ensure standardization and comparability in the data transaction process, clarify the legal relationship in data transactions, such as data ownership transfer and authorization of use rights, and provide legal protection for data transactions. encourage innovative data transaction models and support the development of multiple data transaction models, such as data services and data products, to meet the diversified needs of the market. third, promote the open sharing of data resources. increase the openness of public data, and gradually establish a public data resource registration management, authorized operation, and product pricing mechanism on the premise of ensuring the public welfare attributes of public data resources, so as to provide more data resources for digital native enterprises. through policy incentives and mechanism design, strengthen data sharing and cooperation among enterprises and improve the utilization efficiency of data resources.second, promote the adaptation of application scenario needs to digital native enterprise technology innovation, and create new space for the development of digital native enterprises. on the one hand, application scenarios provide a clearer direction and motivation for digital native enterprise technology innovation; on the other hand, digital native enterprise technology innovation can provide solutions for application scenarios to better meet user needs. the adaptation between the two can be promoted from the following three aspects.first, establish a system for publishing application scenario requirements. government departments have a wide variety of large-scale scenario resources in the field of public management. according to the needs of economic and social development, they can establish a system for publishing scenario requirements in the fields of smart cities, smart transportation, smart medical care, digital government, etc., actively create and release scenario resources, and guide the direction of technological innovation of digital native enterprises. in the process of establishing an application scenario demand release system, it is necessary to clarify the system goals, establish a demand collection mechanism, optimize the information release process, strengthen effect evaluation, promote cross-departmental (or field) collaboration, and increase public participation. second, build a digital scenario innovation ecosystem. the construction of a digital scenario innovation ecosystem requires the joint participation and promotion of multiple forces such as government, enterprises, universities, and research institutions. by building platforms and organizing activities, we can strengthen cooperation and exchanges between enterprises, universities, research institutions, etc., promote the development and application of key and common digital technologies, promote the coordinated evolution of different scenarios, and jointly promote the development of a digital scenario innovation ecosystem. third, carry out digital scenario demonstrations. we should fully consider the needs of current economic and social development and give priority to scenarios that are representative, exemplary, and scalable. the ultimate goal of digital scene demonstration is to improve the efficiency and level of public services and social governance. therefore, when carrying out demonstration projects, we should fully consider user needs and experience, establish a sound feedback mechanism, collect and process user feedback and suggestions in a timely manner, and continuously optimize and improve demonstration projects. at the same time, we should actively organize experience exchange meetings and promotion activities to share the successful experience and practices of demonstration projects with more regions, industries and enterprises.the third is to strengthen the construction of a digital technology talent support system to lay a solid foundation for the development of digital native enterprises. the development of digital native enterprises requires enterprises to have a large number of high-quality talents to cope with the development and changes in technological innovation, data processing, cross-border integration, etc. in particular, the rapid development of large artificial intelligence models in recent years has put forward higher requirements for the construction of a talent support system.first, optimize the allocation of educational resources. encourage colleges and universities and scientific research institutions to strengthen the construction of digital technology-related disciplines, improve the quality of education, and cultivate more digital technology talents with innovative spirit and practical ability. increase investment in digital technology education, increase the proportion of funds for digital technology education, encourage social capital to invest in the field of digital technology education, and improve the quality and quantity of digital technology talent training. second, deepen the integration of industry and education. encourage colleges and universities, scientific research institutions and digital native enterprises to establish close cooperative relations and jointly carry out activities such as talent training and scientific research innovation. through school-enterprise cooperation, establish a close industry-education integration mechanism and jointly cultivate digital technology talents that meet the needs of enterprises. third, improve the talent evaluation and incentive mechanism. establish a scientific and fair digital technology talent evaluation mechanism to ensure the objectivity and accuracy of talent evaluation. improve the incentive mechanism, commend and reward talents who have made outstanding contributions in the field of digital technology, and stimulate the innovative vitality of talents.
the above text has been slightly abridgedselected from | people's forum magazine, issue 15, 2024original title: growth logic and development strategy of digital native enterprises
author: wang qin, research fellow at the institute of industrial economics, chinese academy of social sciences, director of the center for management science and innovation development, chinese academy of social sciences
new media editor | chang chang
original editor | sun ke
welcome to follow↓↓
like
