Research On Co-evolution Of Brand Ecosystem Of Industrial Clusters

Since the1990s, with the promotion of economic globalization, information andnetworking, industrial clusters have become an important factor for both regional andnational economic development because of its vigorous vitality and strongcompetitiveness. At the same time, the brand strategy of industrial clusters, as animportant way to enhance the competitiveness of industrial clusters, has increasinglycaptured many scholars’ attention.But at present the study on the brand of industrialclusters is mainly focused on the study on the general brand of industrial cluster withindustrial cluster as a carrier.While the study on product brands and enterprise brandswithin clusters,and on organic connections and symbiotic relationships amongbrands,and between brands and environment is rather weak.In fact, an industrial cluster isnot only an enterprise community, but also a brand community. A careful review on thebrands of industrial clusters shows that they obviously have many ecologicalcharacteristics. The brands and their environment within the industrial clustersconstitute a brand ecosystem. Individual brand has its own brand characteristics such asbrand personality, brand life cycle, etc. Those brands competing for the same resourcesconstitute a brand population because of their similar niche; different brand populationsare connected into a brand community by industrial value chain;and different brandcommunities and their supportive environment eventually form a brand ecosystem.The essence of ecosystem is the co-evolution.There exists co-evolution withinorganisms, and between organisms and the environment. The evolution of one specieswill change the selection pressures acting on other organisms, which will cause theadaptive changes among other organisms.And this kind of change will cause furtherchanges in relevant species, so as to promote the evolution of an entire ecosystem.Similar to the natural ecosystem, brand ecosystem of industrial clusters also showscharacteristics of co-evolution. Some related elements of brand ecosystem of industrialclusters will promote the evolution of a specific brand, which will influence the evolutionof some relevant elements through its own evolution.And, the evolution of therelevant elements will further change the path of evolution of the specific brand, which will eventually lead to the evolution of the entire brand ecological system.The brandecosystem of industrial clusters is an open and symbiotic system,in which, on the onehand, brands interact with each other all the time and thus achieve coordination andco-evolution through a series of cooperative mechanisms; on the other hand, brandsinteract and co-operate with environment through the sharing of materials, energies andinformation.Combined with ecological characteristics of the brands of industrial clusters,this essay centers on the research into the co-evolution of brand ecosystem of industrialclusters based on theories of ecology and co-evolution, employing such techniques asmetaphor analysis, quantitative analysis, simulation analysis, case analysis, etc. Thisessay is aimed at providing a new perspective for the study of the brands of industrialclusters.Firstly, this essay begins from the theory of ecology,puts forward the concept ofbrand system of industrial clusters, analyzes the level, structure, characteristics,ecological factors and niche for the brand ecosystem of industrial clusters, constructs thetheoretical system of brand ecosystem of industrial clusters, which lays the theoreticalfoundation for the research into the co-evolution of brand ecosystem of industrial clusters.Secondly, with the help of the theory of co-evolution, this essay analyzes the main bodyand cause and effect of the co-evolution of brand ecosystem of industrial clustersfocusing on solving the problem of why the brand ecosystem of industrial clusters needsto evolve coordinately. Thirdly, this essay constitutes the mode of co-evolution of brandecosystem of industrial clusters on three levels（within one brand population,amongpopulations and between populations and external environment）,puts forwardthe guarantee mechanism of co-evolution of brand ecosystem of industrial clusters.Onthe basis of qualitative analysis, this essay establishes a co-evolutionary model for brandecosystem of industrial clusters, simulates the process of co-evolution between brandpopulations（including among brand individuals）using the Matlab/Simulink simulationsoftware, further verifies the applicability of ecological model in the co-evolution ofbrand community, and focuses on the problem about how to ensure co-evolution of thebrand ecosystem of industrial clusters. Lastly, this essay makes a study on the case ofco-evolution of brand ecosystem of apparel industry cluster in Dalian using the co-evolutionary theory of brand ecosystem of industry clusters.Based on the researchmentioned above, this essay obtains the following conclusions:(1)The numerous enterprise brands and their environment constitute a brandecosystem of industrial clusters.This system has its own levels, structures and functions,which require us to study the co-evolutionary relationship among brands,and betweenbrands and environment within the industrial clusters. We must accomplish this study inan open, systematic, organic and connected way so as to better interpret the phenomenonand regularity of brand growth within the industrial clusters, promote the development ofthe enterprise brands of industrial clusters and lay solid foundation for the sustainabledevelopment of the industrial clusters.(2) The main reasons for co-evolution of brand ecosystem of industrial clusters areenvironmental selection pressure, propelling force from market effect and motivationfrom system members’self-development.The co-evolution of brand ecosystem ofindustrial clusters can pool the different brand advantages into the system, enables themembers in the system to cope with the volatile external environment jointly, produces aseries of market effects, brings the members greater benefits that are not available to nonmembers,which is conducive to maintain the system stability and provides gooddevelopment environment for the members.(3) Different co-evolutionary modes are adopted in the different levels of brandecosystem of industrial clusters. There are three levels of the co-evolution of brandecosystem of industrial clusters: the co-evolution among brand individuals in the brandpopulation, the co-evolution among brand populations, and the co-evolution betweenbrand community and its environment. The co-evolution within the brand population isrealized through the constant expansion, overlap and separation of the individuals’ niche.The co-evolution among brand populations is determined by the relationship betweenthese populations. When there exists competing relationships between populations, themode is mainly competition; when there exists mutual benefits, the mode is mainlymutualism. Brand community and its environment form an interactive integrationthrough the flow among materials, energies and information. Brand individuals, brandpopulations and brand communities realize the co-evolution with the environmentthrough the processes of adapting to and influencing the environment. (4) The ecology model has its applicability in the co-evolution of brand ecosystemof industrial clusters. This essay establishes the models for co-evolution of brandecosystem of industrial clusters. Moreover, this essay simulates the process ofco-evolution among brand population（sincluding among brand individuals）with the useof Matlab/Simulink simulation software, which further verifies the adaptivity ofecological models in the co-evolution of brand community.The main contribution of this study lies in the wise combination of the theories ofindustrial cluster brands, organizational ecology and co-evolution.It puts forward aresearch framework for co-evolution in multi-nested brand ecosystem of industrialclusters, analyzes the cause and effect of the co-evolution of brand ecosystem ofindustrial clusters, come up with the modes and mechanisms of the co-evolution ofbrand ecosystem of industrial clusters, builds up the models for the co-evolution of brandecosystem of industrial clusters and simulates them. The study is quite innovative inresearch perspective, research ideas and research methods,etc.