当后发企业接近技术创新的前沿:国际化的“跳板作用”

When Latecomer Firms Approach the Frontier of Technological Innovation:“The Springboard Effects” of Internationalization

当前,越来越多的后发企业正在或已经接近技术创新的前沿,并试图利用国际化的"跳板作用"实现从模仿者向创新者的转型,但现有文献对此缺乏应有的关注和深入的研究。本文运用扎根理论研究法对4家国际化企业进行了多案例研究,旨在挖掘后发企业国际化过程中的创新追赶机制。研究发现:后发企业国际化的"跳板作用"表现为边界跨越、研发网络重构、战略性组织学习和创新追赶。追赶瓶颈是后发企业国际化的动因,战略能力和吸收能力是"跳板作用"的能力基础,边界跨越是"跳板作用"的起点,研发网络重构、战略性组织学习是"跳板作用"的关键与核心,创新追赶是"跳板作用"的结果。这些发现丰富了后发企业国际化和创新追赶的相关理论,对于中国企业的创新追赶具有一定的实践指导意义。

At present,more and more latecomer firms are approaching or have already approached the technological innovation frontier,and attempt to transform from imitators to innovators by taking advantage of＂the springboard effects＂of internationalization,while existing literatures lack proper attention and in-depth research on this subject. Using the grounded theory methods,this paper carries out a multiple-cases study on four international enterprises to explore the innovation catching-up mechanism in internationalization process.This paper finds that,＂the springboard effects＂display as boundary spanning,RD network reconstruction and strategic organizational learning. The bottlenecks of catching-up are the motivation of＂the springboard effects＂for latecomer firms,the strategic capability and absorptive capacity are the foundations of＂the springboard effects＂. Boundary spanning is the starting point of＂the springboard effects＂.RD network reconstruction is the key issue,strategic organizational learning is the core stage and innovation catching-up is the result of＂the springboard effects＂. These findings can enrich relevant theories of internationalization and technological catching-up of latecomer firms. At the same time,they have practical significances for innovation catching-up of Chinese enterprises.