Financial Inclusion in the Era of the Platform Economy: Opening the black box of digital lending to MSMEs in China

平台经济时代的普惠金融：打开中国中小微企业数字借贷的黑匣子

• 批准号: 2396185
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2396185
• 关键词: Financial; Inclusion; Era; Platform; Economy

A variety of studies have shown the benefits of inclusive financial systems for reducing poverty as well as accelerating economic growth and thus enhancing human development (Sarma and Pais, 2011). In this context the creation of an inclusive economic environment for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is a key condition for the described positive effects to fully unfold.Yet, despite their vital role in the economic system MSMEs worldwide face considerable constraints when accessing credit, arguably the key condition for growth and innovation. In recent years the vast development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the subsequent involvement of technology driven private sector businesses (FinTech) in the area of [organizational] micro-finance has fuelled the hope to effectively address this challenge in the future. Although a comprehensive provision of credit by these companies remains at this point of time a distant vision in most parts of the world the development in China has taken a considerably different turn. Drawing on a wide-range of data generated in firm-specific ecosystems, Multi-sided platforms (MSPs) such as Alibaba and Tencent have in recent years entered the financial service sector and become the world leader in what Xie et. al (2015) coin as 'Internet Finance'. This transformation is particularly visible in the vast rise of Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial, the most valuable start-up unicorn in the world which has so far issued loans to more than 20 million MSMEs in the country. Furthermore, and based on the conjecture that their services successfully promote Financial Inclusion, Chinese Internet Finance companies are in cooperation with international organizations rapidly expanding internationally. However, despite growing evidence that digital lending effectively addresses challenges of organizational financial exclusion in China and the assumption that this success can and should be repeated in other parts of the world, it is surprising to note that the development trajectory and inner workings and structures of Internet Finance in the country have so far largely remained a closed 'black box'. Following Bailey and Barleys (2019) as well as Hyysalo, et. al's (2019) call to study digital technologies from multiple perspectives and to extend scrutiny beyond innovation to institutional changes, the proposed research project aims to open the 'black box' of digital lending to MSMEs in China by investigating the phenomenon on different levels and in different spaces. Drawing on a multisided-ethnography at a Chinese Internet Finance company and an MSME, the research project addresses the following research questions: How have MSPs established themselves as a leading source of formal financing for MSMEs in China? How is the platform ecosystem of Internet Finance companies shaped by and shaping the lending process? How does digital credit from Internet Finance companies shape the accounting practices of organizational borrowers? By doing so, the project not only contributes to an emerging body of research on the rapidly developing phenomenon of Internet Finance and its effects on MSMEs but also to research examining the mechanisms of platform expansion and the accelerating shift towards a platform economy more broadly.

各种研究表明，包容性金融体系有利于减少贫困，加快经济增长，从而促进人类发展（Sarma和Pais， 2011）。在此背景下，为中小微企业（MSMEs）创造包容性经济环境是上述积极效应充分发挥的关键条件。然而，尽管中小微企业在经济体系中发挥着至关重要的作用，但它们在获得信贷方面面临着相当大的限制，而信贷可以说是增长和创新的关键条件。近年来，信息和通信技术（ict）的巨大发展以及随后技术驱动的私营部门企业（FinTech）在[组织]小额信贷领域的参与，为未来有效应对这一挑战带来了希望。尽管这些公司全面提供信贷目前在世界大部分地区仍是一个遥远的愿景，但中国的发展已经发生了相当不同的转变。利用公司特定生态系统中产生的广泛数据，阿里巴巴和腾讯等多边平台（msp）近年来进入了金融服务领域，并成为谢等人（2015）所称的“互联网金融”的全球领导者。这种转变在阿里巴巴的子公司蚂蚁金服的巨大崛起中尤为明显，蚂蚁金服是世界上最有价值的初创独角兽，迄今已向该国2000多万家中小微企业发放贷款。此外，基于其服务成功促进普惠金融的假设，中国互联网金融公司正在与国际组织合作，在国际上迅速扩张。然而，尽管越来越多的证据表明，数字借贷有效地解决了中国组织金融排斥的挑战，并且假设这种成功可以而且应该在世界其他地区复制，但令人惊讶的是，到目前为止，中国互联网金融的发展轨迹、内部运作和结构在很大程度上仍然是一个封闭的“黑盒子”。继Bailey和Barleys（2019）以及Hyysalo等人（2019）呼吁从多个角度研究数字技术，并将审查范围从创新扩展到制度变革之后，拟议的研究项目旨在通过调查不同层次和不同空间的现象，打开中国中小微企业数字贷款的“黑匣子”。本研究项目以一家中国互联网金融公司和一家中小微企业的多方民族志为基础，探讨了以下研究问题：中小微企业如何成为中国中小微企业正式融资的主要来源？互联网金融公司的平台生态系统是如何被借贷过程塑造和塑造的？互联网金融公司的数字信贷如何影响组织借款人的会计实践？通过这样做，该项目不仅有助于研究快速发展的互联网金融现象及其对中小微企业的影响，而且有助于研究平台扩张的机制和更广泛地加速向平台经济的转变。