Product Innovation In China Research Articles

The impact of foreign direct investment on innovation in China's forest products industry

The forestry industry, with its high resource dependence, long production cycles, and extensive development modes, lags behind other industries in terms of innovation. This study examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on product innovation in China's forest products industry. We use data from 146,526 forest products enterprises spanning the years 1998 to 2013, merged with patent application records from the China National Patent Database, and employ a two-way fixed effects model. Our estimates show that a 10 % increase in FDI is associated with a 0.86 % increase in patent applications, a smaller effect than in other industries. In particular, we examine how this positive effect of FDI on innovation is affected by the specific production and layout features of the forest products industry. We find that this effect is greater in regions rich in forest resources and non-coastal areas. Additionally, enterprises in this industry often focus on strategic innovations, such as product design, rather than substantial technological change, with innovation priorities differing across sub-sectors. Mechanism analyses reveal that FDI promotes innovation in forest products enterprises by increasing R&D investments, optimizing the marketing environment, and alleviating financial constraints. Extended analyses indicate significant spillover effects of FDI-driven innovation across the industry, especially between the upstream and downstream segments of the supply chain. We advise the global forest products industry to consider these unique production and layout features in their development strategies, and suggest a reorientation of government innovation policies toward long-term goals.

Digitalization, new business Startups, information and Communication Technologies and product innovation: Evidence From China in the lens of sustainability.

The global economies and international organizations are inclined towards sustainable growth, technological advancements and product innovations. China is the leading economy in information and communication technologies and among the major industrially expanded economies covering a substantial share of the global market in exports. The prime objective of this study is to explore the role of digitalization and Information and communication technologies (ICT) for product innovation (PIN). In doing so, the study also attempts to draw some novel implications regarding business, entrepreneurship, and product innovation in the lens of sustainability. This current study use the annual data of China from 1990-2020. The empirical analysis was conducted using the stationarity testing and the Johansen cointegration test. In addition, due to the data's asymmetrical distribution, the non-parametric "quantile regression" is used. For robustness, this study employs the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square, Canonical Cointegration, and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square methods. The empirical results reveal that economic progress and financial development are substantial factors of product innovation. The robust analysis reveals that medium and high-tech industries and information and communication technology adversely affect product innovation. Further, the presence of financial development transforms the negative influence of information and communication technology into a positive. The current study concludes more investments in the technological industry are required to encourage product innovation in China. The study discusses some policy-related implications in the context of business sustainability and product innovation.

The Contingent Effect of IT Use on Product Innovation in the Transition Economy: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

ABSTRACT Scholars have developed a large and robust literature examining the impact of IT on firm innovation. However, this literature often produces divergent, likely context-dependent, results and tends to be limited to developed economies. As a result, we have only partial knowledge about how IT use impacts product innovation. This study rectifies that deficiency and resolves prior divergent findings by employing fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to investigate the contingent effects of IT use for exploration and exploitation on product innovation in China, which is transitioning from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. We draw on a unique sample of 262 Chinese manufacturing firms that responded to the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey and developed several configurations of conditions where IT use fostered product innovation depending on the institutional characteristics of a transitional economy, specifically its degree of market competitiveness and legal enforcement. Our findings share similarities to prior studies set in developed economies, while demonstrating features unique to a transition economy. Using a configurational approach reveals the combinational and asymmetric relationships among IT use, the institutional environment, and resultant product innovation. This helps understand situational characteristics often unexamined in prior studies and complements the findings from regression-based studies.

Could environmental regulation and R&D tax incentives affect green product innovation?

Green product innovation represented by information and communication technology (ICT) refers to an environmental production mode with innovation as the main carrier. As a key means to achieve the coordinated development of environmental protection and economic development, green product innovation is still in the lead-in period in China; since it is difficult to achieve rapid development only by relying on market forces, it needs government intervention and regulation. To guide the development of the green product innovation industry, this study analyzes the effect of environmental regulation and R&D tax incentives on green product innovation from a disciplinary and incentive perspective. Data from 30 regions in China from 2009 to 2017 are used. First, a panel model is proposed for the analysis of the entire country to determine the relationships among environmental regulation, R&D tax preferential policies, and green product innovation. Due to the regional differences in industrial structure and economic development level in the various regions of China, to enhance the accuracy of the research results, the inflection points of environmental regulations in different provinces are analyzed. The research results show a U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and green product innovation, that is, given the increasing intensity of environmental regulation, its effect will gradually change from inhibition to promotion. Currently, most provinces in China are close to the inflection point of environmental regulation, meaning the regulation level needs to be further improved. Further, R&D tax incentives play a significant role in promoting green product innovation. The results not only identify the determinants of green product innovation but also provide a theoretical and decision-making framework for the industrial development and promotion of green product innovation in China.

What drives new product innovation in China? An integrative strategy tripod approach

AbstractThis study explores the determinants that drive new product innovation by employing the integrative strategy tripod approach. We analyze data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey on 1,692 manufacturing firms in China using a novel methodological approach (a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) that focuses on multiple conjectural causations. Interestingly, our findings suggest that R&D investment alone is not a sufficient condition to facilitate a firm's product innovation, but stable government policy is a necessary condition for R&D investment. Even with a low level of R&D investments, it can achieve innovation if those investments are made in conjunction with high technology information system investments for supporting customer relationships. Finally, we find that when firms perceive informal competition to be a significant obstacle to their operations and R&D investment, they tend to engage in corrupt actions to create innovation. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Success Factors for Product Innovation in China’s Manufacturing Sector: Strategic Choice and Environment Constraints

This study examines what factors contribute to firm innovation performance as a result of successful launch of new products in China. Rather than simply applying theories of product innovation often developed in the West, this study takes an indigenous perspective to explore what product strategies and which environment factors, defined by Chinese managers, contribute to the improved firm performance. With the data of Chinese firms from over 40 cities across the country, this study surveys more than 700 manufacturing firms that have introduced new products to the market. The result shows that while a defensive product strategy is negatively related to a firm’s patent application, a prospector strategy helps increase its market share in China. In addition, innovation policy and total R&D investment drive a firm to sell more products overseas and increase its new product sales across the globe. Local talent market can also help improve a firm’s patent application but often drive the firm to focus more on domestic markets. Implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.

Effects of business and political ties on product innovation performance: Evidence from China and India

This study investigates the joint effects of business and political ties, cognitive capital, and institutional support on product innovation performance in China and India. The hypotheses are empirically tested using bootstrap and multiple group structural equation modeling methods, and data collected from 300 Chinese and 200 Indian manufacturers. The results reveal that cognitive capital mediates business ties’ impacts on product innovation performance in both China and India and that institutional support mediates the effects of business and political ties on product innovation performance only in China. The study also finds that political ties increase institutional support in India and that the effect of cognitive capital on product innovation performance is significantly stronger in India than in China. This study clarifies the mechanisms through which business and political ties enhance product innovation performance and generalizes the results in two emerging markets. The cross-country comparison sheds light on the influences of cultural and institutional environments on such mechanisms and provides insights into how to utilize managers’ business and political ties for product innovation in China and India.

Product innovation in China’s food processing industries

Using the innovation production function approach, this paper focuses on the determinants of product innovation in China’s food processing industries. Empirical analysis based on firm level data over the period 2005–07 shows that R&D intensity has a positive and statistically significant impact on product innovation in China’s feed processing industry. Large firms in China’s cereals milling, feed processing, and meat products & by-products processing industries are more likely to be involved in product innovation. Export intensity affects product innovation in cereal milling and feed processing industries. Foreign-invested feed processing firms are more likely to be involved in product innovation.

Cultivating Growth: The 2nd Asia Pacific Region Alternative Finance Industry Report

Cultivating Growth: The 2nd Asia Pacific Region Alternative Finance Industry Report

Institutional constraints of product innovation in China: Evidence from international joint ventures

Research interests in product innovation and relevant success factors in an international context are increasing in the past decades. With the data from over 400 international joint ventures in China's manufacturing sector, this study explores China's institutional factors that may significantly affect product innovations in international joint ventures. The results show that while total R&D investment can increase China's international joint ventures' global product sales brought by new product innovations, local professional services and infrastructure including local universities and research institutes in China can also facilitate product innovation and patent applications. In addition, local market for talents and technologies in China has negative impact on international joint ventures' efforts to sell products overseas. This paper concludes with the discussions of the implications for Chinese government and international joint ventures in China's market.

How Green Management Influences Product Innovation in China: The Role of Institutional Benefits

Does being green facilitate product innovation? This study examines whether green management in firms operating in China fosters radical product innovation to a greater extent than it does incremental product innovation and investigates the underlying institutional mechanisms involved in the relationship between green management and product innovation. The findings show that green management is more likely to lead to radical product innovation than to incremental product innovation. Moreover, government support as a formal institutional benefit more strongly mediates the effect of green management on radical product innovation than its effect on incremental product innovation; whereas social legitimacy as an informal institutional benefit more strongly mediates the effect of green management on incremental product innovation than its effect on radical product innovation. These findings provide important implications for explaining how firms employ green management to facilitate product innovation.

How green management influences product innovation in China: the role of institutional benefits

Does being green foster product innovation? This study examines whether green management fosters radical innovation to a greater extent than incremental innovation in Chinese firms and investigates...

Integrated risk management and product innovation in China: The moderating role of board of directors

This study explored the role of the board of directors in the relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation. We focused on a board's direct involvement in risk oversight and its use of external audit in risk oversight, and examined their moderating effects on the relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation. Panel data from a survey of 1178 Chinese firms was analyzed to test the hypotheses. A board's direct involvement in risk oversight was found to negatively moderate the positive relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation success. The use of external audit in risk oversight similarly weakens the relationship. These results show how an effective board contributes to the innovation benefits associated with risk management in product innovation. They also have important implications for emerging economy firms pursuing an integrated approach to risk management in product innovation.

Strategic, Organizational, and Operational Challenges of Product Innovation in China

OVERVIEW:Although there are several studies highlighting the best new-product development (NPD) practices of Western firms, we know very little about the NPD practices of Chinese firms. Understanding Chinese NPD practices will be helpful not only for Chinese firms to improve their NPD but also for Western firms interested in engaging in NPD in China. This paper presents a survey study highlighting major strategic, organizational, and operational aspects of the NPD practices of Chinese Hong Kong firms and identifying related challenges. It compares the results with Western NPD practices, discusses why Chinese and Western NPD practices might differ, and highlights the implications of the results for both Chinese and Western firms.