Research on Corporate Strategic Behavior

Author: Gan Chunhui (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The "Frontier Issues in Industrial Economics Research Series" is another important series of achievements by the China Association for Industrial Economics Research and Development. During the writing process of the series, the authors adhered to several beliefs: First, industrial economics is a relatively independent yet systematic discipline system, involving fundamental theories, core and branch subjects, research methods, special application fields, and related or interdisciplinary disciplines. Second, many policy researchers and companies seeking investment opportunities need to use the theories and methods of industrial economics to conduct targeted industry analysis for scientific decision-making. Third, while considering China's realistic research foundation and being open to diverse approaches, it is also important to align with the international academic community. The authors of the series are all from universities that established doctoral programs in industrial economics early in the country, and they have conducted in-depth research and achieved significant results in relevant fields. The topics of the series are essentially frontier issues in the theory and application of industrial economics. Therefore, I believe that the publication of this series will play a positive role in enriching the discipline system of industrial economics, promoting discipline development, and enhancing practical applications. My interest in corporate strategic behavior began during my visiting research period at Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management (1998-1999), where I had the opportunity to extensively engage with literature on this topic. I was particularly influenced by the research findings of scholars such as Schelling, Spence, Yamey, Dixit, Easterbrook, Flaherty, Friedman, Fudenberg, Tirole, Gaskins, Harrington, Judd, Petersen, Kamien, Schwartz, Milgrom, Roberts, Saloner, Salop, and Shapiro on strategic behavior. However, as I was busy with a research project on corporate mergers at the time, I was unable to comprehensively review the findings on strategic behavior due to time constraints, though I did extensively collect relevant literature. In 2002, the expanded meeting of the China Association for Industrial Economics Research and Development proposed the writing plan for the "Frontier Issues in Industrial Economics Research Series." This decision solidified my resolve to conduct a thorough review of this topic. In my view, the frontier issues in industrial economics should not only include hot and major issues in China's industrial economic practice but also the frontier issues in the development of international industrial economic theory. Without a doubt, the New Industrial Organization (NIO), which focuses on market behavior and employs new research methods such as game theory, has become the forefront of modern international industrial organization theory since the 1970s, with the focus of market behavior research being strategic behavior. Therefore, a significant portion of my time between 2002 and 2004 was dedicated to research on strategic behavior. The book "Research on Corporate Strategic Behavior" now presented to the readers is, in fact, an initial outcome of my research on this topic. Strictly speaking, this is a relatively comprehensive literature review on "strategic behavior research," reflecting my understanding of current research on strategic behavior theory. For example, the book integrates both cooperative and non-cooperative strategic behavior, as well as long-term, medium-term, and short-term strategic behavior, to construct a theoretical framework for strategic behavior. This approach reflects an understanding of the theoretical system of strategic behavior. Another example is that in the research on strategic behavior, in addition to endogenizing market structure, the boundaries of firms are also endogenized, and market behaviors such as mergers, which adjust firm boundaries, are treated as medium-term strategic behaviors and integrated into the theoretical system of strategic behavior adopted in this book. Of course, whether such an understanding and approach are correct still requires the judgment of the readers and the test of time. After more than a year of research focused on theory and literature, my research team and I are now focusing on studying strategic behavior in China's industrial economic practice using these theoretical methods. We are conducting empirical and case studies on the strategic behavior of firms in industries in China that have relatively rapid marketization and sufficient competition. The writing of this book was the result of a team effort, with contributions from several doctoral students including Liu Ping, Yan Xingyu, Guo Xiaoxi, Yao Yulin, Dai Rong, and Li Xue. Additionally, I would like to thank Professor Yang Gongpu, Professor Wang Yu from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, President Xia Dawei from Shanghai National Accounting College, Professor Tang Xiaohua from Liaoning University, and Professor Zhang Yaohui from Jinan University for their support in the writing of this book. I am also grateful to Professor Yin Xingmin, Deputy Director of the China Economic Research Center at Fudan University, for his valuable comments on the book. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife and parents, who helped me with a great deal of household chores, allowing me more time to engage in this research.