Studies in Science of Science ›› 2026, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 529-540.

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The standard alliance power structure and the standard formation duration

Qian /Wang1, 2,   

  • Received:2025-02-11 Revised:2025-07-08 Online:2026-03-15 Published:2026-03-15

标准联盟权力结构与技术标准形成

王茜1,张晓飞1,孙玉涛2   

  1. 1. 大连理工大学经济管理学院
    2. 大连理工大学
  • 通讯作者: 孙玉涛
  • 基金资助:
    中央财政科技经费分配研究

Abstract: Abstract: Accelerating the formation of standards is the key for firms to win competitive opportunities. For example, Tesla has established a significant competitive advantage in the electric vehicle market by rapidly building a network of supercharging stations and formulating efficient charging standards; Kodak, once a giant in the photography industry, gradually lost its dominant position in the market because of its failure to launch digital photography standards in time. From various practical cases, we can see that taking the lead in launching standards has become an important way for firms to demonstrate their innovative strength, formulate technical rules and seize competitive opportunities in specific fields. In this regard, how firms can improve the efficiency of standardization and shorten the standard formation duration is a hot topic of concern for managers. Existing researches have richly studied the standard formation in the three aspects of firm resource capacity, external environment and standard alliance. Indeed, the research around the influencing factors of standard formation has made some progress, but there are still the following deficiencies that need to be further expanded. Firstly, the existing literature has mainly explored the impact of the size and membership diversity of standard alliance on standard formation from the perspective of individual firms, and lacks research at the alliance level. In fact, standard alliance is the main carrier to promote the process of standard development, and the power structure of alliance is the key factor affecting the operational efficiency of alliance. Secondly, the existing studies mainly take the number of standards developed by focal firms and the cumulative number of patent applications filed by the alliance as the proxy variables of standard formation, and lack the measurement of the efficiency of standard formation at the alliance level, so it is difficult to accurately answer the question of whether and how the standard alliance affects the efficiency of standard development. In summary, this paper focuses on further expanding the stream of literature along the level of standard alliance, and puts forward the research hypothesis on the power structure of standard alliance and the standard formation duration by using the transaction cost theory, and empirically tests the hypothesis by using 1,672 standard alliances in China's telecommunication industry from 2010 to 2020 as samples. The study finds that: the more decentralized the power structure of standard alliance, the longer the time needed to form the standard, because it limits the information processing efficiency and increases monitoring and coordination cost; the regional marketization gap enhances the positive effect of the power structure of alliance and the length of standard formation; the common partnership of alliance firms weakens the positive effect of the power structure of alliance and the length of technical standard formation. The heterogeneity analysis shows that progressive technical standard and standard alliance with younger members are more likely to be affected by the decentralized power structure of the standard alliance, and the positive effect of the decentralized power structure of the standard alliance on the length of technical standard formation is more significant. The relevant research findings provide theoretical support for firms to form standard alliance and accelerate the formation of standards.

摘要: 摘 要:加快形成技术标准是企业赢得竞争先机的关键。本文运用交易成本理论提出标准联盟权力结构与技术标准形成时长的研究假设,运用2010-2020年中国通信行业1672个标准联盟为样本进行了实证检验。研究发现:标准联盟权力结构越分散,技术标准形成时间越长;区域间市场化差距会增强联盟权力结构对技术标准形成时长的正向作用;联盟企业共同伙伴关系会削弱联盟权力结构对技术标准形成时长的正向作用。异质性分析结果显示,渐进式技术标准、成员年龄小的标准联盟更易受到标准联盟权力结构分散的影响,技术标准形成时长更长。相关研究结论为企业组建标准联盟、加快技术标准形成提供了理论支撑。

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