Higher Innovation Performance Research Articles

Research on the Configuration Path of Innovation Performance of Strategic Emerging Enterprises

As vehicles for implementing innovation-driven strategies, the strategic emerging industries are crucial for enhancing national competitiveness and sustainable development. Improving innovation performance in these industries has been a central focus of academic research. Notably, existing studies have primarily analyzed the net effects from a single perspective. This study examined 261 strategic emerging Chinese enterprises listed on the A-share market. Utilizing the Technology–Organization–Environment framework and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, this study explores the impact paths and mechanisms of the coupling configurations of technology, organization, and environment to enhance enterprises’ innovation performance from a configuration perspective. We discovered that, first, no single antecedent condition is necessary to achieve high enterprise innovation performance. However, increasing the level of digital transformation and intensity of innovation investments universally results in high innovation performance. Second, the technological, organizational, and environmental conditions exhibit “multiple concurrency”, forming diverse configurations that drive enterprise innovation performance; hence, the driving paths of enterprise innovation performance are varied. Third, four schemes exist for achieving high innovation performance in strategic emerging enterprises: environment-driven under technological dominance, technology–organization driven type, organization-driven under technological–environmental dominance, and technology–organization–environment co-driven type. Exploring the synergistic paths driving innovation performance from a configuration perspective enhances our understanding of the complex interactions among multiple factors in improving such performance. This provides significant theoretical and practical implications for enterprises aiming to improve their innovation performance.

Synergy between multidimensional intellectual capital and digital knowledge management: Uncovering innovation performance complexities

This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the contingency and complex interrelations between multidimensional intellectual capital (IC), technology-based knowledge management (KM), and innovation outcomes in the rapidly changing business environment. More particularly, we investigate causal recipes for high innovation performance consisting of traditional IC components (human capital, structural capital, relational capital), the three more recently emerging IC dimensions (renewal capital, entrepreneurial capital, trust capital), and digital KM practices. This study adopts neo-configurational perspective and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore multiple conjunctural causations of innovation performance using survey data collected from 102 publicly listed enterprises in Taiwan. Although the four identified archetypes (causal recipes) indicate that all IC dimensions and digital KM are potential collaborators contributing to high innovation performance, they also emphasize the critical role of digital KM in leveraging relational and trust capital for superior innovation performance. Human, structural, entrepreneurial, and renewal capital seems to be a supporting chorus for open and collaborative innovations in the digital era.

Configurational risks and innovation performance of complex product systems development: A fsQCA lens

Complex products and systems (CoPS) development demands effective risk management, which is frequently impeded by a lack of clarity regarding the impact of risks on performance. This study aims to investigate how multiple risks jointly affect innovation performance in CoPS projects. Based on the configurational theory and WSR framework, we use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with data from 97 CoPS projects and examine the combined effects of risks on innovation performance. We identify two types leading to high innovation performance and four patterns causing low innovation performance. The results verify the asymmetrical causality of the influence of risks on innovation performance in CoPS projects. The findings contribute to broadening the relationship studies of risk and innovation performance by adopting an empirical method in the context of CoPS. Moreover, our study can help managers implement flexible risk management activities within CoPS projects, by addressing several equivalent and distinctive paths.

Local economic development strategies in a medium-sized city on the European periphery: a path to become an economic center of Eastern Central Europe importance

Large cities are becoming increasingly valuable in the spatial structure of globalized economies. Although these centers vary significantly regarding population, economic structure, and income conditions, they—compared to their surroundings—generally show a higher productivity level, a higher rate of employment, higher education, and higher innovation performance. However, this metropolization and concentration of the economy in large cities made the development of cities regarded as medium-sized on an international scale an issue of competitiveness in Europe, characterized by dense town networks, a small number of metropolises, and a significant weight of medium- and small-sized towns. However, one of the main preconditions for achieving success in this competition is to form a comprehensive and complex concept with a significant emphasis on economic development. Therefore, the aim of our study is to analyze the local economic development strategies for the last three decades, as elaborated in Debrecen. In the framework of our empirical analysis, we examined how different mainstream concepts appear in local development strategies and which development objectives are determined by the local strategies. Furthermore, we also aimed to identify possible changes in ideas about city roles by referring to the organization of economic space.

Research on the improvement path of grassroots social governance innovation performance in China--Qualitative comparative analysis based on 35 cases.

With the rapid development of China's economy and society, the innovation of grassroots social governance has become increasingly important. This paper constructs 35 grassroots social governance innovation samples. Using the TOE theoretical framework and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this paper analyzes the joint effects and interactive relationships of multiple factors on grassroots social governance innovation performance from three dimensions: technology, organization, and environment. The research reveals that internal environmental openness is a necessary condition for achieving high innovation performance in grassroots social governance, and proposes four grouping models that affect the performance of grassroots social governance innovation. This paper explores the inner logic of grassroots social governance innovation from a histological perspective, and on this basis proposes an adaptive path to enhance the performance of grassroots social governance innovation.

Analyst Coverage and Synchronous Knowledge Search: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

AbstractThis study develops a theory concerning the ways in which firms manage knowledge search in relation to the search behaviours of competitors. While the search behaviours of competitors provide information cues regarding the possible distribution of valuable innovation opportunities in the knowledge space, a focal firm may search with competitors synchronously (i.e. searching with competitors in the same knowledge areas at the same time) or asynchronously (i.e. searching in different knowledge areas from competitors). This study examines the quest for legitimacy under institutional pressure as a key contingency that shapes firms’ propensity to search with competitors synchronously or asynchronously. Focusing on scrutiny by security analysts as a source of institutional pressure, and employing mergers and acquisitions of brokerage houses as a natural experiment that results in exogenous drops in analyst coverage, this study finds that firms are more prone to search with competitors asynchronously following an exogenous drop in analyst coverage, providing support to the theory. Additional analysis shows that the positive relationship between an exogenous drop in analyst coverage and a firm's asynchronous search behaviour is less pronounced when the firm in question has proven its ability to capture valuable innovation opportunities via high innovation performance.

Influencing factors and improvement paths of manufacturing innovation performance: Configuration analysis based on TOE framework.

Innovation is the first driving force to lead development, how to improve manufacturing innovation performance has become a hot topic. Based on 47 listed companies in the computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry in the A-share market, this paper adopted the Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the influencing factors of technology, organization and environment on the innovation performance of manufacturing industry and the improvement path. The findings are as follows: (1) A single condition is not a necessary condition for high innovation performance in manufacturing industry, but government support plays a key role in improving innovation performance in manufacturing industry. (2) There are two improvement paths for high innovation performance in manufacturing industry, which are specifically explained as "technology-environment dual improvement path" and "technology-organization-environment collaborative improvement path". (3) The improvement of innovation performance in the manufacturing industry is the result of multiple factors, showing the characteristics of "all paths lead to the same destination". Different manufacturing enterprises have different paths to improve innovation performance based on their actual conditions. Based on these findings, this study may provide some implications for the effective improvement of manufacturing innovation performance.

How Do Heterogeneous Networks Affect a Firm's Innovation Performance? A Research Analysis Based on Clustering and Classification.

Based on authorized patents of China's artificial intelligence industry from 2013 to 2022, this paper constructs an Industry-University-Research institution (IUR) collaboration network and an Inter-Firm (IF) collaboration network and used the entropy weight method to take both the quantity and quality of patents into account to calculate the innovation performance of firms. Through the hierarchical clustering algorithm and classification and regression trees (CART) algorithm, in-depth analysis has been conducted on the intricate non-linear influence mechanisms between multiple variables and a firm's innovation performance. The findings indicate the following: (1) Based on the network centrality (NC), structural hole (SH), collaboration breadth (CB), and collaboration depth (CD) of both IUR and IF collaboration networks, two types of focal firms are identified. (2) For different types of focal firms, the combinations of network characteristics affecting their innovation performance are various. (3) In the IUR collaboration network, focal firms with a wide range of heterogeneous collaborative partners can obtain high innovation performance. However, focal firms in the IF collaboration network can achieve the same aim by maintaining deep collaboration with other focal firms. This paper not only helps firms make scientific decisions for development but also provides valuable suggestions for government policymakers.

Is digitalization a source of innovation? Exploring the role of digital diffusion in SME innovation performance

Drawing on strategic management theory, this study examines the relationship between digitalization and innovation performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We hypothesize that SMEs with higher levels of digital diffusion have higher innovation performance, and that absorptive capacity moderates this relationship. To test this relationship, we use a sample of 1100 German SMEs from the Mannheim Innovation Panel of the Centre for European Economic Research. The results of the multinomial and multivariate probit estimations show that digital diffusion is a significant positive trigger of innovation in SMEs. We also find that absorptive capacity moderates the relationship between digital diffusion and innovation only in the case of product innovation and not for any other type of innovation. Finally, we discuss the implications of our study for research and practice.

Examining intellectual capital and knowledge absorptive capacity for high innovative performance

AbstractIn the contemporaneous business environment, intangible assets and capabilities are building blocks of an organization's innovative performance. Despite the rising importance of absorptive capacity in knowledge management and innovation literature, there has been limited focus on its dimensions, such as knowledge acquisition, assimilation, and transformation, particularly in relation to intellectual capital (IC) and innovative performance. This research unravels the mediating role played by the dimensions of absorptive capacity in connecting IC to innovative performance. This research offers a novel combination of individual mediation effects of absorptive capacity components on the relationship between IC and innovative performance. Data for this cross‐sectional research were gathered from 295 organizations through a Likert scale questionnaire. This research employs partial least square‐structural equation modeling to analyze the individual mediating pathways of absorptive capacity. This study shows that knowledge acquisition adversely influences the relationship between IC and innovative performance, which challenges conventional wisdom. Conversely, all other mediation paths, including knowledge assimilation, transformation, and exploitation, exhibit a positive influence on innovative performance. Furthermore, this study also offers valuable managerial implications and suggests potential areas for future research.

What Kind of Innovation Ecosystem Is Conducive to Innovation Performance

Universities have gathered abundant innovation resources, which are important carriers for innovation implementation and an important component of the national innovation system. Studying how to achieve high innovation performance in universities is of great significance. Based on the innovation ecological systems theory, this paper examines how the combination of intellectual resources, financial support, evaluation system, collaboration system, talent attraction, and peer pressure can lead to high innovation performance of universities. This paper constructs an analytical framework of “factor-system-space” and uses necessary condition analysis (NCA) methods and Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically analyze the data of 40 universities in China. This article finds that at a lower level of funding and intellectual resources, intellectual resources and financial support are necessary for high talent innovation performance, and different levels of innovation performance have different requirements for conditions. There are three types of configurations that generate high innovation performance, namely institutional boosting under spatial dependence, institutional boosting under factor dependence, and factor-spatial dual drive.

The impact of OFDI on firm pro-environmental behavior: Evidence from China

Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) is a crucial decision in the internationalization strategy of firms and they confront diversified environmental policies and practices of host countries, when engaging in cross-border investments. However, there is a lack of research to investigate whether foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important factor affecting the environmental commitment of firms. This study aims to empirically analyze the impact and mechanism by which firm outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) influences pro-environmental commitments, utilizing data collected from Chinese listed companies between 2010 and 2020. The results show: 1) there is a significant positive relationship between firm OFDI and pro-environmental commitments; 2) mechanistic tests show that the OFDI can promote pro-environmental commitments through two channels: public attention and technological learning capacity; 3) heterogeneity analysis reveals that the green effects of OFDI are more pronounced firms with institutional investors and state ownership, as well as in firms situated in host countries with more stringent environmental regulations; 4) further analysis reveals OFDI-induced greater green commitments generated real environmental and economic outcomes: firms invested more in environmental protection and reduced CO2 emissions. In the meantime, they experienced lower excessive debt risk and higher innovative performance. The findings have positive implications for the promotion of firms’ pro-environmental behavior and sustainable development.

What Kind of Market Is Conducive to the Development of High-Tech Industry? Configuration Analysis Based on Market Field Theory

The high-tech industry is important in supporting China’s construction of a high-quality modern economic system. The high-tech industry markets are spaces for the supply and transaction of high-tech products. The existing research lacks in-depth discussions on the constituent factors and shaping mechanisms of the high-tech industry market. This paper constructs the market field configuration model of the high-tech industry and studies the impact of the market field configuration of the high-tech industry in 30 provinces of China on the innovation performance of the high-tech industry using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method. The findings are as follows: (1) The three structural variables of network, institution, and cognition cannot individually constitute the necessary conditions for explaining the high or low innovation performance of high-tech industries; (2) Three high-tech industry market field configurations can lead to high innovation performance, and the condition combination among different configurations has a substitution effect; (3) Four high-tech industry market field configurations will lead to low innovation performance, in which the lack of multiple conditions in the network, system, and cognition is the main reason for the market failure. The research conclusions of this study highlight the cognitive role of market construction and the configuration characteristics of effective high-tech industry market fields, which provides practical enlightenment for China to improve the innovation performance of high-tech industries.

University-industry Collaboration and Innovation in Low-tech Industries: the Case of Brazil

Abstract Despite the importance of low-tech manufacturing sectors for national economies, previous studies on UIC benefits for the firms were conducted mostly in high-tech sectors, making the knowledge on the impact of UIC on innovation in low-tech sectors unexplored. The present research aims to identify combinations of UIC s that may lead the low-tech firms to high innovation performance. By using the csQCA technique applied to secondary data from the BR Survey, which is the largest UIC databank in Brazil, the researchers identified that the most intense collaborations in terms of knowledge and resource exchange, such as development-oriented and research-oriented, are among the most beneficial for firms’ innovativeness. Diffusion-oriented UIC does not contribute to innovation, unless it is combined with both research-oriented and development-oriented UIC s. Finally, the csQCA suggests that in most cases the firms should focus on engaging in one specific UIC type rather than split its effort and resources among a mix of UIC. The findings amplify comprehension of the range of impacts that entrepreneurial universities promote in low-tech sector, creating both theory and policy implications.

Configurations of innovation performance in foreign owned subsidiaries: focusing on organizational agility and digitalization

PurposeThe authors investigate conditions that drive innovation performance in foreign-owned subsidiaries. The authors study five variables affecting innovation performance: organizational agility and digital capabilities as the main drivers and competencies and embeddedness in internal and external networks as complementary antecedents of innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on the neo-configurational perspective and apply fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically test survey data from subsidiaries located in the emerging economies of Thailand and Vietnam.FindingsWhile the authors find no single condition on its own determining innovation performance, the authors do find that in concert they form four configurations of high innovation performance. The results indicate that all configurations contain competencies, as well as that subsidiaries should prioritize between internal and external networks to complement agility, digital capabilities, to achieve high innovation performance. The authors also reveal intriguing contextual differences in the innovation performance configurations between the two host countries.Originality/valueBy incorporating causal complexity as well as substitutability and complementarity of innovation drivers, the authors extend the current understanding of subsidiary innovation performance outcomes.

Pengaruh Stimulus Inovasi terhadap Kinerja Inovasi Dengan Kapabilitas Inovasi sebagai Mediator: Analisis Empiris Pada Industri Batik

MSMEs need to innovate, especially product innovation and process innovation to increase their competitiveness in facing the onslaught of various external changes. This article aims to inform the role of innovation capability in mediating the relationship between innovation stimulus and innovation performance. For this purpose, a sample of 120 people, namely Jambi batik industry entrepreneurs and craftsmen, has been distributed. The collected data were analyzed using the regression method with a mediation approach. The results of the analysis show that (1) innovation stimulus is positively correlated with innovation performance, and (2) innovation capability is proven to mediate the relationship between the two variables. The results of this study suggest that MSME actors, especially those engaged in the batik industry, increase their innovation capabilities through increasing and tightening the innovation stimulus in order to achieve high innovation performance.

The impact of university patenting on the technological specialization of European regions: a technology-level analysis

This study investigates the relationship between the entry of universities into a new technology field and the innovative activities of firms located in the same geographical area. We aim to assess the presence of a significant correlation between academic research and technological specialization. The empirical setting is based on a dataset of 846,440 patent families, the output of 256 European regions and 428 local universities. The results of the fixed-effect models indicate a robust and positive relationship between the technological entry of academic institutions and the specialization of the region in the same domain. Furthermore, the technological distance between the portfolio of inventions filed by universities and that of co-localized firms is negatively correlated with the subsequent specialization of the hosting region, and this relationship is amplified by the entry of local academies. Several robustness checks have been performed. In particular, the results are tested on sub-samples that distinguish technology fields with lower and higher complexity and geographical regions with lower and higher innovative performance. The technological entry of universities has an additional positive effect for the strong and leading innovators whereas no significant premium or penalty was found for high and low-tech areas. This suggests that the entry of academic institutions into new technology fields occurring in a highly developed innovation ecosystem is more conducive to subsequent industrial specialization thanks to existing collaborations and transmission channels.

How Do Innovation Types and Collaborative Modes Drive Firm Performance? An FsQCA Analysis Based on Evidence From Software Ecosystems

Firm survival in dynamic software markets depends on collaboration with ecosystem complementors and exploitative and/or explorative innovation. Such activities have been widely accepted as crucial antecedents for collaboration success, but few studies have analyzed the configurational effects of collaborative modes effect on firm performance. Based on a sample of 224 software firms and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, results show that four causal configurations equivalently explain high innovation performance, in which exploitation, exploration, and collaboration with academic and governmental institutes are proven to be core causal conditions. Theoretically, this article contributes to the literature on collaborative innovation in terms of causality research and collaborative pathways but also enriches the literature on software ecosystems regarding partnerships and collaborative processes. Practical guidance and flexible choices for software firms to achieve high innovation performance are provided by offering four equivalent configurations.

First-mover advantages and intentional knowledge spillover effects on cybersecurity start-ups’ financial and innovation performance: incentive for revealing innovations in high-tech emerging industry

ABSTRACT Cybersecurity industry, an emerging industry, has the distinctive characteristic of low appropriation ecosystem, as exemplified by free disclosure of white papers and open-source software. Focusing on the above characteristics, this study empirically analyses the cybersecurity start-ups’ financial and innovation performance in terms of first-mover advantages. Moreover, this study examines whether the start-ups’ intentional knowledge spillover activities moderate the subsequent performance. A sample of 327 start-ups related to cybersecurity technology was analysed, and the major results are as follows. While first-mover advantages are positively valid in financial performance, the start-ups’ early entry and innovation performance have an inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, the start-ups’ intentional knowledge spillover activities positively moderate the interaction between early entry and innovation performance. The results confirm that latecomers are also capable of high innovation performance in the cybersecurity industry, and it suggests that start-ups in the high-tech emerging industry need to convert the innovation paradigm from closed to open, aiming for shared growth of the overall industry scale and sustainable innovation.

Стратегическое планирование экономического развития Китая

Strategic planning is one of the most important functions of strategic management. The state uses different strategic planning tools when developing and implementing strategies. China boasts one of the most effective best practices in strategizing, which can be expanded to other countries. This review covers the main approaches to strategic planning in China. The methodology relied on the theory of strategy and methodology of strategizing developed by Vladimir L. Kvint, Dr.Sc.(Econ.), foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Chinese system of strategic planning takes into account the latest achievements of strategizing, including Dr. Kvint’s ideas. Its longterm, medium-term, and short-term development is compiled by the Academy of Sciences, research centers of the State Council, and the Committee for Development and Reform. Chinese regional development strategies are based on the modern global trends. However, the regions evaluate their own resources and development rates, as well as use estimates from various central and regional departments. The policy differs from region to region, depending on both objective factors, e.g., geography, and various subjective features. Large investments in R&D are a necessary part of innovation-driven strategy, but they not always ensure high innovation performance. In fact, Chinese R&D needs more attention to provide innovative development. The regional economic structure fails as a result of unbalanced regional development. Eastern China has better science and technology than the less developed Central, Western, and North-Eastern regions. However, the high population density and the close interregional collaboration compensate for the uneven development for the country, as well as provide a centralized management of economic growth and distributed research infrastructure. Conclusion. The experience of strategic planning in China can serve as a role model for other countries. The prolonged strategic interests, goals, and objectives increase the effectiveness and motivation. In addition, China is constantly developing the field of strategizing theory, methodology, and practice, thus increasing its scientific and innovative potential.