National Standing Committee: Promoting Law Enforcement Against Monopoly And Unfair Competition

Anti monopoly is seen again under the heavy pressure of supervision.

? ? ? ? On May 26, the executive meeting of the State Council deployed measures to further support the relief and development of small and micro enterprises and individual businesses, and determined measures to strengthen the weak links of rural compulsory education. The meeting stressed that the fair competition review system should be strictly implemented, all kinds of market entities should be treated equally, and policies and regulations that discriminate against and hinder all kinds of market participants from participating in market economic activities should be cleared up and abolished. We will further promote anti-monopoly and anti unfair competition law enforcement, and investigate and deal with malicious subsidies and low-cost dumping by enterprises with dominant positions in order to seize market share.

The strict control and investigation of malicious subsidies and low price dumping is just like "timely rain" for the industry. Before that, under the loose growth space in the early stage of development, price war "killer mace" has become a common means. With high subsidies, seizing market share with "lightning war" and even shuffling the market often occur.

At the same time, accompanied by the formation of monopoly, there is the "two choose one" depression for many years“ In fact, the most difficult thing is not the platform, but the brand. " An observer who has been deeply engaged in the field of e-commerce for many years told the 21st century economic reporter that "the pressure of brand merchants caught in the platform is actually the biggest, and the brand side can be said to survive in the cracks."

The recent actions of many ministries and commissions in the field of anti-monopoly show the determination of the regulatory authorities to anti-monopoly. With the strengthening of supervision and standardized development, technology Internet enterprises will also usher in new changes.

Anti monopoly strengthening

This year is the first year of antitrust. With the formal implementation of the "anti monopoly guidelines of the State Council anti monopoly Commission on the field of platform economy" in February, the relevant investigation and punishment continue.

On April 10, the State Administration of market supervision imposed a fine of 18.228 billion yuan (corresponding to 4% of China's domestic sales volume) on Alibaba for abusing its dominant market position in the online retail platform service market in China. On April 26, the General Administration of market supervision filed a case against meituan in accordance with the law, such as "one out of two" and other suspected monopoly behaviors.

The attitude of the industry towards antitrust is also changing. A number of industry insiders pointed out to the 21st century economic report that under the regulatory situation this year, "anti monopoly will be the normal" has become a consensus.

For the industry, the relevant regulatory measures can be described as "timely rain". Before this round of regulatory storm, in order to encourage the development of Internet economy, the regulatory authorities implemented inclusive and prudent regulatory attitude towards emerging industries. However, with the development of Internet giants, some small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed operators encounter crowding out effect, and the negative effects brought by internet giants are increasingly apparent.

For example, when technology giants occupied the "highlands" of community group buying, they used price wars to seize the market. On a large number of platforms, "one penny for a box of eggs" and "nine cents for a cabbage" can be found everywhere. However, in this process, small and medium-sized enterprises and even individual vendors have no strength to fight back under the impact of giants.

"Internet people are used to occupying the market free of charge and capital subsidies from investors, selling below cost," the industry observer told the 21st century economic news reporter. "However, many of the vendors and hawkers eliminated by community group buying can not be transformed. The problem of tens of millions of people is worthy of concern. Therefore, it is very necessary to regulate anti-monopoly and anti unfair competition."

At the same time, using low prices to occupy the market is not necessarily a good thing for the user side“ The giants who have just entered the market are more focused on the price side, and many of the quality end is left to the suppliers to control themselves, "a leading group buying enterprise told the 21st century economic news reporter," in this process, the lack of platform management capability will certainly lead to various problems. "

Another "dilemma" caused by monopoly is the painful situation of "choosing one from two" for brand owners. Previously, tmall and Jingdong had a big fight over "one out of two", and tmall asked brand merchants to withdraw from Jingdong 618 activity, otherwise, they would be severely punished and even stop all traffic in tmall. In addition, meituan and hungry Mo have also been involved in the dispute of "choosing one from two".

"The current anti-monopoly action is timely," Pan Helin, executive director of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Central South University of Finance and law, commented to the 21st century economic reporter, "the harm of abusing monopoly position on the market mainly lies in the blocked fair market competition. Enterprises use the dominant position in the industry to avoid market competition and force small enterprises to make passive choices, This will block the expansion of small enterprises, hinder the survival of the fittest in the market, and is not conducive to the improvement of resource allocation efficiency. "

Competition pattern changes

Under the heavy anti-monopoly efforts, the competition ideas in the field of science and technology Internet are also changing.

"In the future, technology competition will replace mode competition and become the focus of competition in the field of future science and technology Internet." Pan and Lin to the 21st century economic reporter analysis said.

In fact, considering that technology and copyright belong to the category of legal monopoly during the period of intellectual property protection, and model innovation is easy to step on the red line, it is obvious that technology giants should expand application scenarios, increase R & D investment in patented technology and IP copyright, and obtain competitive advantage through science and technology.

At the same time, considering the acceleration of digital process under the current epidemic situation, the investment in technology field is expected to become a new round of competition point for science and technology enterprises“ The regulation of unfair competition of technology companies and the use of data and other elements are conducive to the endogenous innovation of the whole science and technology industry. We believe that under the regulation and guidance of regulatory policies, technology giants will increase R & D and investment in SaaS, aiot, industrial Internet and other fields on the basis of adjusting their original businesses. " CITIC Securities research analyst said.

At the same time, under the heavy pressure of antitrust, Internet start-ups are expected to get a respite“（ Antitrust has widened the path for the growth of Internet start-ups and can promote the emergence of new technologies and new formats. " Pan Helin pointed out that "for the Internet and technology industry investment, the future will pay more attention to the investment of science and technology attributes, the investment in model innovation will gradually weaken, and investors will be more cautious."

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