Improve Innovation Efficiency Research Articles

Research on High-quality development of enterprises based on an intelligent background

In the global economy, intelligent technology has attracted much attention as a crucial factor in propelling enterprises towards achieving high-quality development growth. Taking the financial reports of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock exchanges published from 2007 to 2022 as samples, this study explores the influence and mechanism of intelligent technology on the high-quality development of enterprises. The study finds that intelligent technology has a substantial positive impact on enhancing the high-quality growth of businesses, especially by improving innovation efficiency and management efficiency. In addition, digital inclusive finance and the digital economy have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between intelligent technology and the high-quality development of enterprises. These results offer practical backing for the advancement of corporate intelligence and establish a vital theoretical and empirical foundation for companies to uphold their competitive edge in an intensely competitive market landscape.

Does embeddedness in strategic alliances matter for innovation efficiency? The moderating roles of government R&D subsidies and standardization

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of strategic alliance network centrality and structural holes on firm innovation efficiency. In addition, the paper aims to explore the moderating effects of government R&D subsidies and firm technology standardization.Design/methodology/approachBased upon the literature on strategic alliance networks, this paper proposes a conceptual model with several hypotheses. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 736 observations from 92 mechanical manufacturing firms in China from 2010 to 2017. We measured firm innovation efficiency via the DEA model and performed quantitative analysis with GMM estimation.FindingsThe results indicate that strategic alliance network centrality is positively related to firm innovation efficiency, and structural holes have a U-shaped relationship with firm innovation efficiency. Government R&D subsidies positively moderate the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency. Firm technology standardization positively moderates the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency and the U-shaped relationship between structural holes and firm innovation efficiency.Practical implicationsFirms should focus on improving innovation efficiency and maximizing innovation output under limited resources. Furthermore, managers ought to strengthen cooperation between firms and external alliances while promoting the utilization of strategic alliance network position resources to benefit innovation efficiency.Originality/valueThis paper considers that innovation efficiency, including input and output processes, is more representative than innovation performance, and few studies have focused on the relationship between strategic alliance networks and innovation efficiency. To fill this research gap, this paper explores the impact of strategic alliance network position embedding on innovation efficiency.

Managerial ability, digital transformation and innovation efficiency: empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control. Design/methodology/approach This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables. Findings The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms. Practical implications This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency. Originality/value Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.

The Effect of Innovation Efficiency to the Cosmetics Industry

With the development of technology, the improvement of people's requirements and the harder competition of cosmetics companies, continuous innovation has become one of the key capabilities of to occupy the market in the cosmetics industry. This paper mainly introduces how to improve the development status of cosmetics companies by improving innovation efficiency and uses the ratio of the number of patents to R&D expenses to measure innovation efficiency. By analysing the financial statements of L'Oreal Paris, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, Procter& Gamble and Beiersdorf, we conclude that companies with higher innovation efficiency are in the better business condition. Through our analysis, we point out that cosmetics companies should focus on innovation while cutting unnecessary costs and improving efficiency to improve their business conditions.

Does Corporate ESG Performance Improve Innovation Efficiency? Evidence from China’s Listed Companies

Does Corporate ESG Performance Improve Innovation Efficiency? Evidence from China’s Listed Companies

Hedge fund ownership and the innovation of high-tech firms: Evidence from the Science and technology innovation board in China

High-tech firms stand apart from traditional firms due to their emphasis on innovation. This paper provides empirical evidence indicating new mechanisms through which hedge fund holdings enhances innovation of high-tech firms listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in China. Different from that of traditional firms, this paper finds that hedge fund ownership enhances innovation output by increasing innovation input and improving innovation efficiency of high-tech firms in China. The positive relationship is especially evident among firms with long-term holdings by hedge funds, low agency costs, a high degree of equity checks and balances, and those that are privately held enterprises.

How do R&D capital market distortions affect innovation efficiency in China? Some evidence about spatial interaction and spillover effects

Improving innovation efficiency (IE) and refining capital market distortions are important considerations for promoting national innovation strategies. This study uses the dynamic spatial Durbin model and mechanism tests to explore the direct impacts, spatial effects, and influencing mechanisms of R&D capital market distortions on IE based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2009 to 2019. The main results can be summarized as follows. First, China’s IE is characterized by temporal inertia and spatial agglomeration. In both the spatial and temporal dimensions, IE in neighboring areas in the previous period can inhibit local IE in the current period. Second, R&D capital market distortions have a weakening effect on IE in the short- and long-term. Third, R&D capital market distortions have significant spatial interaction and persistent positive spatial spillover effects on IE. Finally, R&D capital mismatch and technology lock-in effects are essential mechanisms related to R&D capital market distortions that can inhibit IE. Based on these results, policy recommendations have been proposed to improve IE.

How entrepreneur power affects entrepreneurial firms’ innovation efficiency in the face of inconsistent governance composition

ABSTRACT Improving innovation efficiency is the key to enhancing the innovation capability of enterprises. Based on the perspectives of leader power configuration and innovation process, this study analyses the impact that entrepreneur power has on the innovation efficiency of entrepreneurial firms. Panel data on entrepreneurial firms in China's Growth Enterprise Market are evaluated, and we apply an empirical panel stochastic frontier modelling and random-effects negative binomial regression. The results from the entrepreneurial firms indicate that innovation efficiency could be improved by the multi-role playing of powerful entrepreneurs amid the innovation activities. Additionally, organisational risk-taking tolerance moderates the entrepreneur power-innovation efficiency association. With the increase in the number of large shareholders, the positive impact of organisational risk-taking tolerance on the entrepreneur power-innovation efficiency relationship is strengthened. Robustness checks substantiate the veracity of our empirical results.

How Does Regional R&D Investment Agglomeration Affect High-Quality Economic Development? Evidence From China

In order to reduce the environmental pollution of economic development, countries around the world pursue high-quality economic development model. However, the relationship between R&D investment agglomeration and high-quality economic development has not been thoroughly revealed in existing studies. Taking 30 provincial-level regions in China from 2009 to 2018 as research samples, this paper empirically examines the relationship between regional R&D investment agglomeration and high-quality economic development by using system GMM method and spatial econometric model. Theoretical analysis shows that regional R&D investment agglomeration promotes regional high-quality economic development by increasing regional knowledge capital, improving innovation efficiency, and promoting knowledge spillovers through scale effect, synergy effect, and spillover effect, respectively. The empirical results show that regional R&D investment agglomeration can significantly promote regional high-quality economic development. The degree of regional integrated innovation can positively adjust the promotion effect of regional R&D investment agglomeration on regional high-quality economic development. Regional R&D investment agglomeration can effectively promote the high-quality economic development of surrounding regions.

The construction of social credit system and corporate innovation: Evidence from China

Under the background of the construction of a social credit system (CSCS) in China, personalized trust established on emotion and identity is evolving toward generalized trust based on recorded credit information. Using the pilot cities of the CSCS in China, we employ a difference-in-differences identification strategy to examine whether the CSCS affects corporate innovation. We find that pilot cities of the CSCS significantly promote corporate innovation, and the impact of the pilot cities of the CSCS on exploitative innovation is stronger compared with that on exploratory innovation. We further show that the impact of the CSCS on corporate innovation is more significant in firms with low availability of capital for innovation projects, firms with long supply chain distances, and firms in areas with poor protection of intellectual property rights. Finally, we document that CSCS promote cooperative innovation and improve innovation efficiency. Overall, our research helps with a further understanding of the connotation of social trust in China and provides a reference for credit system construction in other economies in the Asia Pacific region.

Does the Improvement of the Business Environment Improve the Innovation Efficiency of Enterprises? Evidence from the Listed Companies in China

The quality of the business environment influences the speed and quality of economic development, and optimizing the business environment helps improve enterprises’ innovation ability. This article selects urban business environment and micro-enterprise data of Chinese listed companies from 2013 to 2019. It constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for the urban business environment in China through the entropy method, exploring the specific path of promoting enterprise innovation ability through the business environment. The empirical results indicate that optimizing the business environment can encourage improving innovation efficiency in enterprises. A good business environment can increase government subsidies and enterprises’ Assumption of risk ability to promote technological innovation. Financing constraints and supply chain concentration can negatively enhance the driving effect of the business environment on enterprise innovation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the business environment is more conducive to stimulating the drive for technological innovation among state-owned enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and manufacturing enterprises. This article provides new insights into the relationship between the business environment and the innovation efficiency of enterprises.

Estimating the effect of board independence on innovation efficiency using research quotient: a quasi-natural experiment

PurposeExploiting a novel measure of innovation, the authors investigate whether independent directors improve innovation efficiency. This novel measure of innovation captures the extent to which the firm generates revenue from its research & development and is, therefore, more economically meaningful. The authors also use a text-based measure of innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors rely on a quasi-natural experiment based on the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that compelled certain firms to raise board independence. The difference-in-difference analysis is far less vulnerable to endogeneity and is more likely to show a causal influence, rather than a mere association.FindingsThe results show that more independent directors improve innovation efficiency significantly. Specifically, firms forced to raise board independence experienced a much higher increase in innovation than those not required to change their board composition. The authors also explore another novel measure of innovation, a text-based metric of innovation.Originality/valueThe research is original in several ways. First, the authors take advantage of an exogenous regulatory shock as a quasi-natural experiment. This approach is far less susceptible to endogeneity. Second, the authors use a novel measure of innovation efficiency, i.e. research quotient, which is more economically meaningful. Finally, the authors use a unique measure of innovation derived from powerful textual analysis.

Analysis and prediction of the formation of new technical phrases for inventive ideation

Despite the fast pace of technological development, the process of inventive ideation remains fuzzy. Meanwhile, improving innovation efficiency has become critical for research and development (R&D) teams because of the fierce competition. This study claimed that new technical phrases (NTPs) were important carriers of novel inventive ideas, and their formation was key to understanding and improving ideation processes. Therefore, this article proposed a methodology to analyse and predict the formation of NTPs. First, based on the recombinant search theory and link prediction, four variables in the prior co-word network of a phrase that may influence its formation were collected. Thereafter, logistic regression and a classification tree were employed on patent data to explore the effects of these variables on NTPs. Moreover, various machine learning methods were used for developing NTP prediction models, and procedures for applying the prediction models in real-world R&D settings were designed. Finally, a case study was conducted using the proposed methodology for its demonstration and validation in neural network technology. The case study revealed that all the four variables posed significant impact on the formation of NTPs, and the prediction models yielded the highest prediction accuracy of 78.6% on the test set. The proposed methodology would shed light on the ideation process in innovation theory and provide R&D teams with practical tools for generating new technical ideas.

Innovation network structure, government R&D investment and regional innovation efficiency: Evidence from China.

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper uses a two-stage DEA model to measure regional innovation efficiency, then non-parametric test is used to examine the impact of innovation network structure and government R&D investment on regional innovation efficiency. The results show that, at the provincial level, innovation efficiency of regional R&D is not necessarily in direct proportion to the innovation efficiency in the commercialization stage. Commercialization efficiency is not necessarily high in provinces with high technical R&D efficiency. At the national level, the innovation efficiency gap between our country's R&D and commercialization stage is small, indicating that the development of the national innovation efficiency is more and more balanced. Innovation network structure can promote the R&D efficiency, but has no significant effect on the commercialization efficiency. Government R&D investment helps to improve the R&D efficiency, but it is not conducive to the improvement of commercialization efficiency. The interaction between innovation network structure and government R&D investment will have compound effects on regional innovation efficiency; the region with underdeveloped innovation network structure can increase the government R&D investment to make it have a higher level of R&D. This paper provides insights into how to improve innovation efficiency in different social networks and policy environments.

Path Optimization of Technological Innovation Efficiency Improvement in China’s High-Tech Industries Based on QCA and GA-PSO-BP Neural Network

Innovation is the main driving force to promote national technological progress. It is of great significance to explore the optimal path to improve innovation efficiency by using the qualitative method and neural network prediction model to promote the high-quality development of the national economy. This study focuses on high-tech industries in the eastern, central and western regions of China; a factor-dependent research framework for innovation efficiency improvement in high-tech industries is constructed in China. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method (QCA) is used to explore multiple paths to enhance the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries. Then, a GA-PSO-BP neural network is used to construct an optimization model for the enhancement path of technological innovation efficiency, which clarifies the optimal path for the enhancement of innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Finally, innovation management strategies for high-tech industries are presented with regional features. The study finds that none of the individual conditions are necessary to promote the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries, and only the linkage effect of the factors can achieve the goal of improving the innovation efficiency level of China’s high-tech industries. There are four configuration paths to improve the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries, which are: “Multinational company (MNC) innovation—economic development—government support”; “MNC innovation—government support”; “economic development—government support”; and “economic development”. The characteristics of regional heterogeneity make differences in the optimal paths of innovation efficiency improvement in high-tech industries in eastern, central and western regions of China.

Regional intergenerational mobility and corporate innovation: Evidence from China.

By stimulating social vitality and improving innovation efficiency, intergenerational mobility plays an essential role in economic development. With the data from China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) and A-share listed companies, this paper uses the methodology of intergenerational order correlation to measure regional intergenerational mobility, and examines the impact of regional intergenerational mobility on corporate innovation. The results are as follows: (1) Regional intergenerational mobility promotes corporate innovation both quantitatively and qualitatively, and a series of robustness tests confirm our findings; (2) Two channels identified are government-enterprise human capital allocation and fairness perception; (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the innovation effect of regional intergenerational mobility is more significant in the high-tech industry and private enterprises; (4) Multi-dimensional market-oriented policy can be used to get rid of the shackles of low intergenerational mobility on corporate innovation. Our findings provide implications for developing countries on how to address the relationship between inequality and economic development.

Research on the Path of Improving Enterprise Performance through Employee Stock Ownership Plan in Technological Enterprises

In the period of rapid development of the knowledge economy, human capital plays a very prominent role in technology-based enterprises. Technological enterprises have characteristics such as high R&D investment, intensive technological talent, and significant impact of human capital on their competitiveness. Employee stock ownership plans can stimulate innovation vitality and improve innovation efficiency. The research on employee stock ownership in technology-based enterprises is still a relatively new field, and there are still some challenges. Employee stock ownership in technology-based enterprises is an incentive mechanism that can effectively improve corporate performance. This article elaborates on the characteristics of employee stock ownership plans, analyzes the process of their impact on corporate performance, and proposes countermeasures and suggestions. Employee shareholding in technology-based enterprises is not a panacea for all problems, and its successful implementation requires specific design and adjustment based on the company’s own situation. In addition, the implementation of employee stock ownership plans may also face some challenges, such as equity allocation, liquidity management, etc., which require rational allocation of resources and handling of interest relationships.

Green supply chain management and innovation persistence–Based on environmental turbulence perspective

PurposeIn recent years, environmental issues and resource depletion have posed significant challenges to firms and society. To address these environmental challenges, firms seek to build strategic alliances of green supply chain management (GSCM) with their supply chain partner. As the largest developing country in the Asia–Pacific region, China needs to take more responsibility for environmental protection, which requires more Chinese firms to participate in GSCM. Therefore, focusing on the issue of GSCM and innovation persistence in the context of an increasingly harsh ecological environment is essential.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypothesis, the authors perform an empirical analysis on a sample of 124 listed firms in China from 2014 to 2019. The results are robust to a battery of robustness analyses the authors performed to take care of endogeneity.FindingsEmpirical results indicate that GSCM can promote innovation persistence and both market environment turbulence and technology environment turbulence have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the two. Mechanism tests show that GSCM can improve innovation efficiency, ensure innovation quality and alleviate financing constraints, thus promoting the innovation persistence of firms.Originality/valueThis study can provide a theoretical basis for the country to promote GSCM orientation, raise firms' awareness of the value of GSCM, convey the significance of GSCM to investors, influence firms' investment decisions and give experience to other developing countries.

Do R&D Subsidies Improve Operational Performance? New evidence from China

The sustainable development of the digital economy has attracted wide attention. To ex-plore how to improve the operational performance of China's digital firms, this paper conducts an influence mechanism model to test the nonlinear effect, heterogeneity effects, and mediation effects using a panel data of China's digital firms from 2008 to 2017. The empirical results indicate that R&D subsidies have an inverted U-shaped effect on operational performance, and these results are still valid after a series of robustness tests. In addition, we find that R&D subsidies have a heterogeneous effect on operational performance in terms of region, company size, governance structure, and executive education background. Moreover, regarding the influence mechanism, R&D subsidies improve operational performance by improving innovation efficiency. This paper proposes some policy implications to improve the operational performance of China's digital firms.

Corporate responsibility towards employees and innovation: Evidence from an emerging market

Against a background of rising labor costs and the need to build a harmonious labor–capital relationship in China, this paper focuses on non-pecuniary incentives for employees and discusses the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards employees on innovation performance. The empirical results show that CSR towards employees significantly promotes corporate innovation, and that this effect remains robust after accounting for alternative proxies and endogeneity issues. In addition, the positive effect of CSR towards employees on innovation is more significant for firms in high-tech industries, with high levels of R&D inputs and high valuation of employee collaboration. Further analysis indicates that CSR towards employees does not promote R&D investment, but does significantly improve innovation efficiency and the marginal output of R&D investment and reduces the turnover rate of management-level staff with production and R&D backgrounds, which is conducive to stability of the innovation team. In addition, this paper also finds that for companies with high R&D expenditures, CSR towards employees significantly eases the sensitivity between executive turnover and performance, which helps executives resist pressure arising from a decline in short-term performance. The findings of this paper have implications for improving labor–capital relations and enhancing firm innovation capabilities.