Ownership and firm innovation in a transition economy: Evidence from China

We examine innovation performance of firms in a transition economy from an ownership perspective. We focus specifically on the relationship between ownership structures and firm innovation performance. Drawing on data from 548 Chinese firms we find volume of patent registration to be most strongly influenced by foreign ownership in the firm along with firm affiliation within a business group. The influence of state and institutional ownership on innovation performance is positive but lagged. Contrary to expectations, insider ownership leads to lower innovation performance and concentrated ownership has no significant impact. Our study has two principal contributions. Firstly, we utilize a comprehensive treatment of ownership characteristics, overcoming weakness in previous studies that have used a more narrow focus on ownership type. Secondly, we contribute to understanding of how firms in transition economies build ‘indigenous’ capabilities for innovation by drawing attention to the interplay of foreign and domestic control of agents’ innovation.     

How do foreign firms patent in emerging economies with weak appropriability regimes? Archetypes and motives

Foreign firms patent in emerging economies with weak appropriability regimes at an increasing rate. This phenomenon constitutes a paradox since in such a setting foreign firms should have weak incentives to patent. In an attempt to resolve this paradox, we conducted an inductive analysis of 11 foreign firms that patent in such a setting, using the case of China as our empirical context. We identify four archetypes of foreign firms and three key antecedents the interaction of which determines which archetype a firm can be subsumed under.Our study complements the developed-economy focus of the extant appropriation literature by adding an international perspective. We extend previous econometric studies by identifying salient factors on the firm level that determine the extent to which a foreign firm patents in emerging economies with a weak appropriability regime, highlighting that the extent of a firm's motivation to maintain its freedom to operate can supersede imitability concerns. We also comment on the practical implications of these contributions for managers of foreign firms. Highlighting a structural conflict of interest between foreign firms from developed economies and the development goals of an emerging economy, we point to the generalizability of our results to a wide range of other emerging economies worldwide.     

How top management team diversity affects innovativeness and performance via the strategic choice to focus on innovation fields

Past innovation research has largely neglected potential effects of corporate governance issues on strategic choices, and thereby on innovation management outcomes. The theory of upper echelon implies that strategic choices result from idiosyncrasies of top management teams (TMT). Building on this theory, we hypothesize that TMT diversity enhances firm performance by facilitating an innovation strategy that increases the firm's new product portfolio innovativeness. Our findings support the relevance of considering a corporate governance view for explaining innovation outcomes. Empirically, we can show that TMT diversity has a strong impact on the strategic choice of firms to focus on innovation fields. Such focus then drives new product portfolio innovativeness and firm performance. As corporate governance arrangements thus seem relevant in the context of innovation management, we can derive implications for both policy makers and innovation researchers.     

Business optimism and the innovation-profitability nexus: Introducing the COVID-19 adaptable capacity framework

In this paper we develop a novel multi-stage integrative framework for technology foresight-planning. This framework integrates econometric analysis and a technology foresight procedure to predict: (i) the most COVID-19 resilient industries at the national level; and (ii) the most adversely affected industries (due to prior investment in innovation) that requires public support. Our econometric results show that the pandemic has induced a ‘double-edge sword’ effect of innovation on firm’s COVID-19 adaptable capacity (CAC). Costly innovation undertaken before the pandemic can be bad for firms if it compounds the problem of declining post-pandemic outbreak profit and optimism. Contrarily, firm level innovation improves firm’s CAC as the prior innovators’ profitability are found to have above-even odds of rebounding quickly post-pandemic outbreak. Our empirical analysis focuses mostly on developing economies, where firms are most likely implementing only incremental (non-frontier) innovation and thus our results should be generalized with caution.     

The bright and dark sides of institutional intermediaries: Industry associations and small-firm innovation

Institutional intermediaries are often seen by governments as avenues for increasing firm level innovativeness. This is because they can provide both information and legitimacy, which enable access to government support. Yet, close engagement with intermediaries may also encourage political intervention, especially in the context of emerging markets. Using a unique dataset which consists of the Chinese Micro- and Small- Enterprise Survey (CMES) and the National Economic Research Institute (NERI), we explore the roles of government support and political intervention in the relationship between institutional linkages and firm innovativeness. We find that government support, in the form of tax benefits, and political intervention mediate the relationship between institutional linkages and firm innovativeness. We also find that this relationship is contingent upon the degree of institutional development within which firms operate. Our findings therefore contribute to the burgeoning literature that examines the effects of institutional intermediaries on innovation by exploring both their bright and dark sides. We discuss the implications of these findings for institutional intermediary research, institutional theory and innovation literature and offer advice to policymakers and managers looking at improving innovativeness.     

The nexus between innovativeness and knowledge management: A focus on firm performance in the hospitality sector

While the importance of knowledge management is increasingly acknowledged, many firms do not fully understand the significance of innovativeness in relation to knowledge management and firm performance. Consequently, the objective of this article is to investigate innovativeness and its relationship with knowledge management and organizational performance in an under-examined industry sector and country context. The study methodology was survey-based and took place in the hospitality industry sector in Lesotho, Africa. Findings highlight the importance of knowledge management practices as an important driver of firm performance, where the results emphasize the positive mediating effect of innovativeness on the relationship between knowledge management and firm performance. The study has important practitioner and policy implications, where it is recommended that knowledge management be utilized in conjunction with innovativeness so as to positively influence firm performance. The article delivers a novel contribution to the literature in terms of establishing empirical associations between knowledge management, innovativeness and firm performance in an emerging country context.     

派系及联络企业的创新能力评价

近年来，随着企业间结盟方式逐渐趋于多元化，企业个体间竞争的模式正在向基于派系间竞争模式转化。本研究基于社会网络的理论，以中国9个高新技术行业2010-2015年联盟创新网络的数据为样本，对联盟网络中的派系类别及派系间联络企业对企业创新能力的影响进行研究。结果发现，目前中国的高新技术产业派系林立程度较大，跨派系融合度较低；研发优势派系、契约式派系及纯商业型派系对企业的创新能力产生显著的正向影响；派系间联络企业负向调节纯商业型派系对企业创新能力的影响。本研究对企业进行派系的选择及派系关系的管理具有重要的理论及现实指导意义。     

科学合作网络、知识多样性与企业技术创新绩效

科学合作在科学知识生产中扮演着重要角色,而科学研究所产生的科学知识对于企业技术创新至关重要。运用2000-2017年新能源汽车产业相关学科在web of science刊载的32715家中国组织参与的合作论文585348篇,构建组织间科学合作网络139090个（个体网）。同时从德温特数据库下载了1893家中国组织在新能源汽车产业申请的专利16112条,将参与了科学合作（合作论文）与产生了技术创新绩效（专利申请）的组织进行匹配,最终聚焦于174家企业,利用面板数据,实证分析我国新能源汽车产业科学合作网络关系如何影响企业技术创新绩效。研究发现,企业在网络中的关系广度与关系强度均能正向影响企业技术创新绩效,关系强度比关系广度对企业技术创新绩效的影响更直接;知识多样性（学科多样性和技术多元化）中介于网络关系对企业技术创新绩效的影响,学科多样性中介于关系强度对企业技术创新绩效的影响,而关系广度则通过技术多元化影响企业技术创新绩效;研究还发现,企业进行学科多样性和技术多元化均有利于其提升技术创新绩效。     

Investigating the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Croatian business

Technological innovation plays a critical role in economic growth. The most advanced and new technologies are created by leading firms in developed countries. Global expansion, strategic outsourcing or off-shoring in leading companies has been growing to enrich their competitive advantage, while technology transfer of leading firms has been of more interest to emerging or developing countries for catching up and following the trajectory of economic growth proved in developed countries. Among various channels to acquire new technologies from leading firms, foreign direct investments (FDI) is one of the most effective channels through which technology can be transferred to subsidiaries in emerging markets. However, empirical study on the roles of technology transfer and the feedback loop from FDI remains still scarce. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of FDI on businesses in partial or complete foreign ownership, with a special emphasis on technology transfer, and to assess the impact of foreign companies on domestic firm performance through technology transfer from foreign companies. This paper aims at investigating the investment climate for foreign investments and intensifying technology transfers and innovations in the Croatian economy. 145 firms responded to the survey we conducted for foreign investment enterprises in Croatia. Structural equation model is employed to examine the hypotheses with respect to effects of FDI on innovation activities of domestic Croatian firms. This study identified critical factors affecting technology innovation to Croatian firms. The results provide empirical evidence that the innovation activities in subsidiaries have a positive influence toward technology transfer from multinational corporations.     

On the innovativeness of foreign affiliates: Evidence from companies in The Netherlands

In examining the distinctive contributions of foreign subsidiaries and domestic firms to innovative performance in Dutch manufacturing, the paper shows that foreign ownership is an important factor in explaining inter-firm differences affecting innovativeness. It characterizes innovativeness by distinguishing between products that are new to the firm (‘imitative’ innovations), and those products that are new to the market (‘real’ innovations). It uses firm-level data for 4780 firms which took part in the Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2) for 1996 in The Netherlands. It concludes that foreign subsidiaries are more innovative, they are more likely to introduce ‘imitative’ as well as ‘real’ innovations compared to domestic firms. In comparison with the population of innovative companies, however, there is greater heterogeneity among foreign subsidiaries, i.e. they are not more likely to introduce ‘real’ innovations if they cannot utilize knowledge transfer from an associated company.     

学习和忘却、组织韧性与企业数字化能力获取研究

企业的数字化转型对组织内部能力与外部环境都提出了新的要求,传统企业普遍沉浸在缺乏“数字化能力”的焦虑中。本研究在组织印记理论基础上拓展了印记反弹效应,以数字时代开启的新兴经济体企业的反弹契机为背景,探索了促进企业数字化能力获取的组织特征与过程机制。采用国际竞争中处于相对劣势产业的259家中国企业样本进行实证研究,结果表明组织学习与组织忘与数字化能力之间存在正向关系,组织韧性在其间起到了部分中介的作用,企业网络数字氛围正向调节了组织学习、组织忘却与组织韧性的关系。研究结论表明,中国企业虽然在初创时期没有丰富的外部资源支持,但可以在后续发展中通过组织学习与忘却强化组织韧性等内部组织特征,并在良好的数字氛围等组织外部环境中实现更为迫切的获取数字化能力的反弹效应。     

供给侧结构性改革下制造业服务化与企业生产率的关系研究

   制造业服务化是世界制造业发展趋势。以供给侧结构性改革为背景,针对制造业服务化探讨了企业人均能源消耗、产业链升级、创新能力对企业生产率的共同影响机制。研究发现：制造业服务化与企业生产率正相关,但受到企业人均能源消耗的负向调节作用。同时,产业结构调整与企业创新能力强化了制造业服务化与企业生产率之间的正向关系。结论对供给侧结构性改革下的中国企业转型升级具有理论价值与实践启示。     

企业成长与创新视角下的产业链升级研究

产业链升级是中国企业摆脱跨国公司低端锁定的重要途径。以企业成长与企业创新理论为基础,讨论了企业在不同成长阶段入嵌产业链的程度。研究发现青春期企业创新投入越强入嵌程度越低,吸收能力越强入嵌程度越高。新创期入嵌产业链程度较低,而青春期较高。创新投入与入嵌程度之间关系受到新创期负向调节。同时,吸收能力与入嵌程度之间关系受到新创期的负向调节、青春期的正向调节。研究结论对中国企业产业链升级具有理论贡献与实践启示。     

Neither at the cutting edge nor in a patent-friendly environment: Appropriating the returns from innovation in a less developed economy

Despite increased focus on understanding how firms appropriate the returns from innovation, our knowledge regarding firms' behaviour in less developed economies (LDEs) is still scant. This paper provides a nuanced view as to how firms that are not at the technological frontier attempt to capture value when they encounter fragile patenting conditions. I analyse a unique dataset on innovative activities in Brazil. My findings reveal the effects (if any) of a number of factors on the use of a wide range of appropriability mechanisms. These factors include measures of knowledge intensity, novelty of products and processes, firm size, degree of competition, innovation cooperation, government support for innovation, and type of ownership. In addition, my empirical exercise provides evidence of the extent to which firms in an LDE adopt different appropriability mechanisms in pairs. Overall, this paper indicates that even in the absence of an effective patent system, firms do use patents. However, there are other patterns of appropriability in which firms use design (being registered or not registered accordingly), lead-time or trademarks in association with other means of appropriation.     

海外资源整合、全球网络嵌入路径与知识溢出

文章基于创新网络位置的中介效应,探索业务整合和品牌协同两个维度的中国企业独特资源整合模式对知识溢出的传导机制;探索在并购双方不同资源相似性、互补性的匹配组合下,应采取的业务整合程度和品牌协同程度,比较不同资源条件下,并购整合影响产业知识溢出的路径的差异性。通过对102个中国制造业上市公司海外并购样本进行多群组结构方程实证与Bootstrap检验分析,得出结论,相似性强、互补性弱时,高业务整合程度与低品牌协同程度通过提升并购方全球创新网络中心度地位,促进产业知识溢出;资源相似性弱、互补性强时,低业务整合程度与高品牌协同程度通过提升并购方全球创新网络结构洞地位,促进产业知识溢出。文章对于突破传统国际化理论约束的所有权优势和产业发展“低端锁定”的内生增长路径,构建基于中国企业实践的海外并购整合对产业知识溢出理论框架,具有重要价值。     

Technological dynamism in Asia

We analyze innovation in emerging and newly industrialized economies over the past 30 years, with the emphasis being on Asian economies. We use US patent data to study how the innovative capabilities of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have expanded in relation to emerging economies in Asia and Latin America. We then carry out a sector-level analysis of innovation for South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and China. We also study the relative importance of foreign multinationals, business groups, individuals, domestic firms and research institutes in innovation. Finally, we study the overall concentration of innovative activity in Asian economies.     

Innovation and network multiplexity: R&D and the concurrent effects of two collaboration networks in an emerging economy

This study focuses on the multiplexity of firm R&D networks, and it investigates two types of boundary-spanning networks: the bipartite network between firms and government-sponsored institutions (GSIs), and the traditional firm–firm network. We apply a social network perspective to examine the effects that these kinds of networks have on firm innovativeness, in relation to the effects of the firm’s internal R&D efforts. We define the firm-GSI network as bipartite, and we investigate how the structural characteristics of this network (cohesion and centrality) affect innovativeness. We then decompose the innovational effects of firm–firm networks into two categories (intra- and inter-sector) to distinguish the effects of these collaboration networks. Furthermore, we investigate how these various external collaborative networks interact with a firm’s internal R&D efforts for driving innovativeness. Our empirical study of 420 manufacturing firms in Mexico evaluates evidence from surveys and secondary data. The findings indicate that the structural properties of both firm–GSI and firm–firm networks have positive effects on innovativeness, but firm–GSI network cohesion has a stronger negative interaction with R&D in influencing firm innovativeness. Moreover, intra-sector centrality in a firm–firm network has a stronger negative interaction with R&D than inter-sector centrality does in driving firm innovativeness. We contribute to the literature by integrating insights from the perspectives of network multiplexity, social embeddedness, and resource complementarity in regard to inter-organizational behavior. Our study also provides meaningful guidelines for both managers and policy makers. The study’s findings are robust to concerns of common method bias and alternative model specifications.     

伙伴社会价值对企业突破性创新的影响研究

本研究基于交易成本理论分析了在研发联盟组合中,研发合作伙伴的社会价值（中心企业的研发合作伙伴的伙伴数的平均值来衡量）如何作用于企业的突破性创新;同时分析了研发联盟伙伴技术多样性以及地理多样性的调节作用。基于1997年至2017年中国医药制造业构建研发联盟的数据,采用负二项回归分析发现：（1）在研发联盟组合中,研发联盟伙伴社会价值与企业突破性创新的关系为倒U形;（2）研发联盟伙伴技术多样性减弱了伙伴社会价值对企业突破性创新的倒U作用;（3）研发联盟伙伴地理多样性增强了伙伴社会价值对企业突破性创新的倒U作用。本文的研究结论不仅完善了现有的研发联盟组合文献和伙伴多样性研究文献,还基于交易成本理论为企业管理者进行伙伴选择及联盟组合管理提供重要的思路启发。     

DIVERSITY,ECONOMICS AND THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

Diversity of newspaper outlets and diversity of newspaper ownership are both generally conducive to economic efficiency within the newspaper industry. A review of the economics of newspaper publishing reveals two major factors concerning the structure and ownership of the press. The first is that scale economies of production are largely responsible for the tendency of newspaper markets in cities and towns to be dominated by a single title. The second is that the combined effect of economies of scale and newspaper firms’ drive towards growth is likely to bring about a high concentration of newspaper ownership. It is argued that economic theory lends qualified support to policy proposals to prevent mergers between newspaper firms and to require divestiture of newspaper titles.     

Does a different view create something new? The effect of employee diversity on innovation

A growing literature is analysing the relation between diversity in the knowledge base and the performance of firms; nevertheless, studies that investigate the impact of employee diversity on innovation are scarce. Innovation is an interactive process that often involves communication and interaction among employees in a firm and draws on their different qualities from all levels of the organisation. This paper investigates the relation between employee diversity and innovation in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and education. The analyses draw on data from a recent innovation survey. This data is merged with a linked employer-employee dataset that allow us to identify the employee composition of each firm. We test the hypothesis that employee diversity is associated with better innovative performance. The econometric analysis reveals a positive relation between diversity in education and gender on the likelihood of introducing an innovation. Furthermore, we find a negative effect of age diversity and no significant effect of ethnicity on the firm's likelihood to innovate. In addition, the logistic regression reveals a positive relationship between an open culture towards diversity and innovative performance. We find no support of any curvilinear relation between diversity and innovation.