Abstract: Technological innovation gives birth not only to new technologies and new products, but also to new industries, all of which combine into a new enterprise ecology that is challenging for the government to manage. As a little-known emerging industry, the e-cigarette industry is experiencing “disorderly development” in China, a world leader, just as the Internet once did. In order to achieve a better living environment, enterprises in China’s e-cigarette industry adapt themselves to the industry characteristics and the external environment by implementing and demonstrating extraordinary self-discipline. For example, they spontaneously established China E-cigarette Industry Committee, affiliated the committee to China Electronic Chamber of Commerce for communication, formulated industry standards, worked with industry associations of other countries to issue the Declaration on World E-cigarette Public Health and Safety, take actions to protect minors, and participated in the anti-epidemic initiative by providing relief and donating money and goods. Has this “bottom-up” self-regulation behavior in China’s e-cigarette industry influenced government policy making? From the perspective of game analysis, this paper discusses the influence of industry self-discipline on policy regulation, and seeks an optimal solution for both enterprises’ decision-making and government policy making in order to open the market, maintain competition, promote technological innovation and economic development, and promote industry self-discipline.

Key words: e-cigarette industry, emerging industry, legitimacy theory, industry self-discipline