董事网络和企业创新:引资与引智

Board Networks and Firm Innovation:Attracting Resources and Introducing Intelligence

本文利用国内上市企业的连锁董事数据探究了董事网络对民营企业创新决策的影响。研究发现,董事网络显著提高了民营企业的创新水平,这主要依靠引资作用和引智作用实现。作为资源流动的载体,董事网络能够发挥资源获取作用,为民营企业创新提供融资支持,拓宽研发投入的资金来源,即引资作用;作为知识传播的载体,董事网络能够发挥专利知识获取作用,为民营企业创新提供异质性专利知识支持,提升企业创新的产量和质量,即引智作用。进一步研究发现,引资作用的实现主要依靠获取商业信用,引智作用的实现主要依靠提升专利质量。因此,民营企业创新能力的提升可以借助构建董事网络实现。

Based on director interlocks of all public companies in China, this article explores how board networks affect non - state - owned enterprises＇ innovation. We find that there are two positive effects of political connection： attracting resources and introducing intelligence. Being a carrier of capital flows, board networks have significantly positive influence on accessing to external resources for R＆D expenditure, which is called attracting resources ; being a carrier of knowledge dissemination, board networks play great roles in accessing to heterogeneous information for enterprises＇ patents, which is called introducing intelligence. Empirical evidence also shows that trade credits are major sources for R＆D expenditure, heterogeneous information are mostly provided for invention patents not for utility model patents and design patents. A direct policy implication of our research is that, in order to improve levels of technical innovation, non - state - owned enterprises can build board networks with other enterprises, which contributes to not only mitigating financing constraints but also providing intellectual support.