Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? - Jac de Haan

竞争者为什么都聚在一起？ - Jac de Haan

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: john rack 校对人员: Minji Seo

Why are gas stations always built right next to other gas stations?

为什么加油站总是建在其他加油站旁边？

Why can I drive for a mile without finding a coffee shop

为什么我们有时候会开了一英里却找不到一家咖啡店？

and then stumble across three on the same corner?

然后突然发现有3家咖啡店在同一个拐角？

Why do grocery stores, auto repair shops and restaurants

为什么杂货店，汽车修理店和餐厅

always seem to exist in groups

似乎总是聚在一起，而不是均匀地分布在整个区域？

instead of being spread evenly throughout a community?

While there are several factors

虽然有多种因素可能会决定在哪里开店

that might go into deciding where to place your business,

可以用一个简单的故事来解释为什么同类商店都聚在一起

clusters of similar companies can be explained by a very simple story

called Hotelling's Model of Spatial Competition.

被称为 霍特林模型空间竞争 (Hotelling's Model of Spatial Competition)

Imagine that you sell ice cream at the beach.

想象一下你在海滩上卖冰淇淋

Your beach is one mile long and you have no competition.

海滩长达一英里并且你没有任何竞争者

Where would you place your cart in order to sell the most product?

你会把你的冰淇淋车放在哪里以卖出最多的产品？

In the middle.

在海滩中间

The one-half-mile walk may be too far for some people

对于在海滩两端的某些人来说，

at each end of the beach,

他们最多只用走半英里，你的冰淇淋车现在可以卖出最多的冰淇淋

but your cart serves as many people as possible.

有一天你又来海滩卖冰淇淋，发现你的表兄弟Teddy带着他的

One day you show up at work

just as your cousin Teddy is arriving at the beach

冰淇淋车也在卖冰淇淋。并且，他卖的冰淇淋和你的一模一样

with his own ice cream cart.

In fact, he's selling

exactly the same type of ice cream as you are.

为了让客户走的路程更短一些

You agree that you will split the beach in half.

In order to ensure that customers don't have to walk too far

你同意和他平分海滩

you set up your cart a quarter mile south of the beach center,

你把你的车放在距离海滩最南端的 1/4 的地方

right in the middle of your territory.

就在你的地盘的中央

Teddy sets up a quarter mile north of the center,

Teddy把它的冰淇淋车放在距离海滩北端1/4的地方

in the middle of Teddy territory.

这是Teddy地盘的中央

With this agreement, everyone south of you buys ice cream from you.

有了这个协议，在海滩南边这些人都会来你这里买冰淇淋

Everyone north of Teddy buys from him, and the 50% of beachgoers in between

在北边的那些人会从Teddy那里买冰淇淋. 顾客都会去

walk to the closest cart.

最近的冰淇淋车那里买，没有人会走1/4英里以上的路程

No one walks more than a quarter of a mile,

and both vendors sell to half of the beachgoers.

你们各自供应所有顾客所需冰淇淋的一半

Game theorists consider this a socially optimal solution.

博弈论认为这是一个社会最优 ( socially optimal ) 的解决方案

It minimizes the maximum number of steps any visitor must take

它把顾客为了走到冰淇淋车所需

in order to reach an ice cream cart.

的最长路程给缩小了

The next day, when you arrive at work,

第二天你刚开始卖冰淇淋的时候发现

Teddy has set up his cart in the middle of the beach.

Teddy把他的冰淇淋车放在了海滩的中间

You return to your location a quarter mile south of center

你回到了海滩南端的中间

and get the 25% of customers to the south of you.

并且只得到了25%的顾客

Teddy still gets all of the customers north in Teddy territory,

Teddy仍然获得了他原先在海滩南端的顾客

but now you split the 25% of people in between the two carts.

但现在有25%的顾客处于两部冰淇淋车的中间

Day three of the ice cream wars, you get to the beach early,

在‘冰淇淋战争’的第三天，你更早的来到了海滩

and set up right in the center of Teddy territory,

并把你的冰淇淋车放在了Teddy地盘的中间

assuming you'll serve the 75% of beachgoers to your south,

假设你可以服务在你南边的75% 的海滩行人

leaving your cousin to sell to the 25% of customers to the north.

剩下你的表兄弟服务25% 的顾客

When Teddy arrives, he sets up just south of you

当Teddy 来的时候，他把车放在了你的南边.

stealing all of the southerly customers,

偷走了原本属于你的所有的南边的客户，并且只给你留了很少一点的在北边的顾客

and leaving you with a small group of people to the north.

为了不被淘汰，你移到了Teedy南边的10步远以重新获得你的顾客

Not to be outdone, you move 10 paces south of Teddy to regain your customers.

When you take a mid-day break, Teddy shuffles 10 paces south of you,

在你中午休息的时候，Teddy又移到了你南边的10步远的地方

and again, steals back all the customers to the far end of the beach.

再次获得了直到最南边的所有顾客

Throughout the course of the day,

在这一天里，你们不停的移动到对方的南边

both of you continue to periodically move south

towards the bulk of the ice cream buyers,

以获得南边的冰淇淋买家

until both of you eventually end up at the center of the beach,

直到你们最终都到达了海滩的中间

back to back, each serving 50% of the ice-cream-hungry beachgoers.

背对背，各自服务50%的冰淇淋买家

At this point, you and your competitive cousin

在这一点上，你和你的表兄弟达到了博弈论中所谓的 纳什均衡(Nash Equilibrium)

have reached what game theorists call a Nash Equilibrium -

the point where neither of you can improve your position

你无法通过移动你的位置以获得更高的收益

by deviating from your current strategy.

Your original strategy,

你原计划是俩人都在海滩的1/4的位置来平分顾客

where you were each a quarter mile from the middle of the beach,

好景不长，因为它不是一个纳什均衡(Nash Equilibrium)

didn't last, because it wasn't a Nash Equilibrium.

Either of you could move your cart towards the other to sell more ice cream.

你们各自都可以移动位置以卖出更多的冰淇淋

With both of you now in the center of the beach,

现在你们俩都处于海滩的中间

你无法移动位置来节省最远的顾客要走的路程

you can't reposition your cart closer to your furthest customers

without making your current customers worse off.

而不使得你的当前客户需要走的路程加长

However, you no longer have a socially optimal solution,

但是，您不再有社会最优 的解决方案

since customers at either end of the beach

因为顾客在海滩的两端

have to walk further than necessary to get a sweet treat.

为了获得‘甜蜜的享受’他们必需走那么远

Think about all the fast food chains,

想想所有的快餐连锁店，服装精品店， 或者在商场的移动电话亭

clothing boutiques, or mobile phone kiosks at the mall.

Customers may be better served

也许当他们平均分布的时候 顾客可能会获得更好的服务

by distributing services throughout a community,

but this leaves businesses vulnerable to aggressive competition.

但是这使企业受到激烈的竞争

In the real world, customers come from more than one direction,

在现实世界中，客户来自四面八方

and businesses are free to compete with marketing strategies,

并且企业之间用营销策略自由竞争

by differentiating their product line, and with price cuts,

通过推出不同的产品，降价

但关键是企业要保持

but at the heart of their strategy,

companies like to keep their competition as close as possible.

自己的竞争力