From "Price War" to "Collaborative Win"
Shanghai Securities News reporter Wang Xiaowei
Originally, "price war" referred to a state of continuous improvement, but now it has become a vicious competition in certain industries: the prices of solar panels continue to fall, car manufacturers launch multiple models with discounts, and energy storage companies repeatedly lower their prices... As the "price war" spreads across the industries of photovoltaics, cement, steel, and automobiles, corporate profits are being squeezed to the limit, the industrial ecosystem is deteriorating, and economic circulation is slowing down, affecting the foundation of high-quality development.
Many factors contribute to the formation of "price war": blind recruitment, local protectionism, a lack of exit mechanisms, insufficient differentiated competitive strategies, and stage-specific supply-demand mismatches... These factors collectively produce this "bitter fruit".
From the perspective of individual companies, "price war" often leads to a "prisoner's dilemma": if prices are not reduced, orders will be lost; if prices are drastically reduced, profits will return to zero or even result in losses. To maintain their market position, companies may resort to competitive pricing as a last resort. The cost of this is reduced research and development investment, difficulty in upgrading technology, and potential erosion of long-term competitiveness.
Breaking the "price war" cycle has become a key solution to the current economic development contradictions, an important guarantee for deepening economic system reform, and a necessary path for driving companies to innovate, move up the value chain, and enhance their competitive edges.
"Anti-price war" is not about "lying flat" or simply doing nothing, but rather requires a systematic reconstruction of competition rules, opening up new paths between "price war" and "breakthrough"."
In recent times, several industries have implemented "output restrictions," releasing collective signals for self-rescue. However, "anti-price war" is a systemic engineering project. In addition to relying on industry self-regulation and scientific adjustment of production capacity, the government should also play the role of "rule referee" and "ecological gardener," removing local protectionism, dismantling market "invisible barriers," and prompting companies to make a firm commitment to transformation, abandon the path of price competition, and focus on technological breakthroughs, process optimizations, and brand value enhancements.
For companies, the way to overcome "price war" is to run two parallel tracks: one is to cultivate unique skills and occupy niche markets through customization services, solution-based businesses, and blue ocean strategies; the other is to promote "chain-like cooperation," especially for leading enterprises, which need to optimize industry chain profit distribution mechanisms, shorten payment periods, and co-create a healthy ecosystem. Only when each participant becomes an "anti-price war" pioneer can China's economy, like a ship sailing across the vast ocean, break free from the old script of mutual struggle and chart a new course for collaborative development.
In some sense, the "anti-price war" is a baptism by fire for China's economic body. Only when institutions are finely tuned to excise tumors, industry organizations weave a dense self-regulatory network, and companies drive innovation with the sword of creativity can the era of zero-sum competition truly come to an end, and the vast ocean of collaborative development open up.