Mixed blessing: Mixed ownership reform and innovation behaviour of Chinese state-owned enterprises

Abstract

We focus on China's extensive mixed ownership reform (MOR) and find that MOR significantly improves the innovation scale but reduces the collaborative innovation depth of SOEs. Additional research finds that this effect is primarily related to the widening of the internal salary gap and the reduction in the policy burden. An increase in the scale of innovation can enhance a company's intrinsic value; however, a decline in the depth of collaborative innovation has a negative impact on the intrinsic value.