Connecting Cyberspace to Place: Understanding the Evolution of Transactions and Value Chains in Electronic Commerce

将网络空间连接到地方：了解电子商务中交易和价值链的演变马修·a·Zook （PI）托马斯·r·莱因巴赫（co-PI）肯塔基大学该项目考察了美国不同公司的电子商务的形式、过程和地理位置。更具体地说，它考察了电子商务如何通过（重新）制定价值链（比较物理和虚拟）来促进公司的竞争优势，从而影响现有的生产地理。分销和销售。第一个目标是考察选定行业中制造企业的结构特征与电子商务相关的程度。第二个目标探讨了公司为什么从事电子商务以及电子商务如何在其运营中发展。第三个也是最重要的目标是了解采用特定形式或模式的电子商务如何改变公司价值链的性质。特别令人感兴趣的是这种重新配置的空间表现，以及价值链及其地理变化是否因行业、公司和产品而异的问题。该项目使用一系列连续和互补的方法努力来完成已确定的研究目标。首先，对来自人口普查局制造商年度调查的个别公司样本进行电子商务数据分析。其次，使用额外的公司样本进行了更详细的电子商务联锁邮件/电话调查。这项调查将提供从事电子商务的动机、扩展的顺序过程，以及电子商务下价值链的联系和变化结构的细节。第三，将从上述抽样公司中选择一组进行一系列深度访谈，以深化从邮件调查中收集的信息和发现。这项研究的意义可以用多种方式来描述。首先，现有的地理学和商业/经济学文献几乎没有从空间或结构的角度研究过电子商务（以及公司价值链的变化）。为了解决这一不足，该项目做出了以下重要贡献：(1)提供了关于电子商务的发生率和规模及其与制造企业类型的企业结构和运营特征之间关系的新见解。(2)跨商业模式的企业类型对物理价值链和虚拟价值链之间相互关系的变化性质（结构和地理）的新知识创造。(3)加深了对电子商务如何提高具体业务运作和增加企业竞争优势的理解；如何提高效率；电子商务如何影响公司提供的产品范围；以及电子商务如何影响供应商、客户和竞争对手之间的关系网络。最后，(4)该研究将有助于企业理论的文献，特别是从广泛的“嵌入性和网络”视角。该项目将展示电子商务如何影响公司与其供应商/市场的空间关系，并将允许评估公司的电子商务创新如何影响其所在地区。最后，项目结果对正在探索电子商务的使用和影响的公司、地方政府和发展机构将具有重要意义。鉴于电子商务的创新能力，这些参与者渴望了解电子商务如何影响他们的商业模式、工作地点和价值链。

Connecting Cyberspace to Place: Understanding the Evolution of Transactions and Value Chains in Electronic Commerce Matthew A. Zook (PI) Thomas R. Leinbach (co-PI)University of KentuckyThe project examines the forms, processes and geographies of E-commerce across a diverse set of firms in the U.S. More specifically, it examines how E-commerce contributes to firms' competitive advantage through the (re)formulation of value chains (comparing physical to virtual) and thereby affects existing geographies of production, distribution and sales. The first objective examines the degree to which structural characteristics of manufacturing firms in select industries relate to engagement in E-commerce. A second objective explores why firms engage in E-commerce and how E-commerce evolves in their operations. The third and paramount objective is to understand how the adoption of a particular form or model of E-commerce alters the nature of a firm's value chain. Of special interest are the spatial manifestations of this reconfiguration and the question of whether value chains and changes in their geographies differ among industries, companies and products. The project uses a series of sequential and complementary methodological efforts to accomplish the research objectives which have been set out. First E-commerce data is analyzed for a sample of individual firms from the Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufacturers. Second a more detailed interlocked mail/telephone survey of E-commerce is conducted using an additional sample of firms. This survey will provide evidence of the motivations for engaging in E-commerce, the sequential process of expansion, as well as, details on the linkages and the changing structure of value chains under E-commerce. Third, a series of in-depth interviews will be conducted from a select set of the above sampled firms in order to deepen information and findings gathered from the mail survey.The significance of the research can be characterized in a variety of ways. First and foremost, virtually none of the existing literature in geography and business/economics has examined E-commerce (and changes in firms' value chains) from a spatial or structural perspective. To address this deficiency, the project makes the following important contributions: (1) The provision of new insights on the incidence and magnitude of E-commerce and its relationship to firm structural and operational characteristics across manufacturing firm types. (2) The creation of new knowledge on the changing nature, both structural and geographical, of the interrelations between physical and virtual value chains by firm types across business models. (3) Increased understanding of how E-commerce enhances specific business operations and increases firms' competitive advantage; how efficiency gains are achieved; how E-commerce affects the range of products a firm offers; and how E-commerce affects networks of relationships between suppliers, customers and competitors. Finally, (4) the research will contribute to the literature on the theory of the firm, particularly from the broad "embeddedness and networks" perspectives. The project will show how E-commerce is affecting the spatial relations of firms with their suppliers/markets and will allow assessment of how E-commerce innovations in firms may impact the regions in which they are located. Finally the project results will be important to firms, local governments and development agencies which are now exploring the use and impact of E-commerce. Given the innovative capacity of E-commerce, these actors are eager to learn how it may affect their business models, location of jobs, and value chains.