基于SaaS平台市场竞争情境下新兴厂商的策略选择研究

Research on the Strategic Choices for Emerging Vendors in the Competitive Context of the SaaS Platform Market

摘要: 云计算技术的SaaS模式重构了传统软件产业的价值链体系，在引发商业模式创新的同时，也带来了其开放性主导下的竞争失衡与共享性主导下的安全风险双重挑战。针对平台既有厂商的先发优势锁定与云服务安全的负外部性问题，本研究通过构建动态Stackelberg博弈模型，结合数值仿真方法，揭示了新兴SaaS厂商在平台市场竞争下的最优运营策略。研究发现：1) 当已有SaaS厂商的网络效应小于一定阈值时，新兴SaaS厂商后续应用服务需求量将不再受其影响。2) SaaS平台的引流效应越强，新兴SaaS厂商所制定应用服务的价格就会越高，但并不会因其导致客户的购买量减少，反而需求上升使得最终收益增加。此外，SaaS平台引流效应较小时，新兴SaaS厂商的收益会随着引流投入的增加而减少，反之，其收益会随着引流投入呈“U”型变化。3) 新兴SaaS厂商采取软件安全提升策略时，可通过涨价策略来平衡因提升软件安全性而产生的成本损失。然而，随着软件安全性的提升，其收益并非持续增长，而是呈现出“U”型态势。本研究为新兴SaaS厂商突破平台市场竞争壁垒、完善双边市场定价机制具有重要的决策参考价值。

Abstract: The SaaS model of cloud computing technology has reconfigured the value chain system of the traditional software industry. While driving business model innovation, it also presents dual challenges: competition imbalances under the influence of its openness and security risks dominated by its shared nature. To address the first-mover advantage lock-in by incumbent platform vendors and the negative externalities of cloud service security, this paper constructs a dynamic Stackelberg game model combined with numerical simulation to reveal the optimal operational strategies for emerging SaaS vendors in platform market competition. The findings indicate: 1) When the network effect of existing SaaS vendors falls below a certain threshold, the subsequent application service demand of emerging SaaS vendors will no longer be affected by it. 2) The stronger the traffic diversion effect of the SaaS platform, the higher the price set by emerging SaaS vendors for their application services. However, this does not lead to a reduction in customer purchases; instead, rising demand ultimately increases revenue. Furthermore, when the platform’s traffic diversion effect is weak, the revenue of emerging SaaS vendors decreases with increased diversion investment. Conversely, when the effect is strong, revenue follows a “U-shaped” pattern in response to diversion investment. 3) When emerging SaaS vendors adopt software security enhancement strategies, they can offset the cost losses incurred by improving security through price increases. However, as software security improves, revenue does not increase continuously but rather exhibits a “U-shaped” trend. This study provides significant decision-making references for emerging SaaS vendors to break through platform market competition barriers and refine the pricing mechanism in two-sided markets.