平台的力量:设立研发平台能促进企业创新吗?

The Power of Platforms:Can R&D Platform Improve Company's Innovation?

作为企业发展的重要支撑,研发平台的设立如何有效发挥其积极作用,尤其是在转型升级背景下,是否能提升企业创新绩效,值得进一步研究。本文在创新平台的多边网络结构下,基于资源依赖理论框架并综合社会资本、人力资本和创新动态能力的视角,使用2018年中国私营企业调查数据系统探讨了企业设立研发平台对其创新绩效的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,设立研发平台显著提高了企业创新绩效,在运用一系列敏感性分析后,该结论依然成立。进一步分析还发现,设立研发平台的级别越高,企业的创新绩效越好。机制分析结果表明,研发平台影响企业创新的核心作用在于能为企业带来政策协同效应、人才集聚效应和创新激励效应。同时发现,设立研发平台的企业在创新发展过程中更具引领性和自主性,具体表现为更可能采取引领型技术定位、自主研发型技术来源等战略。本文通过分析企业研发平台的结构—行为—绩效的作用机制和结果,丰富了平台创新的微观领域文献和理论脉络,为优化企业研发平台相关政策提供了参考,同时也为进一步加大企业内部创新投入提供了实践借鉴。

As the most sustainable source of economic growth,innovation has always been an important issue in the work of the government,and an important engine for industrial restructuring and upgrading,and for enterprises to cultivate competitive advantages.With the rapid changes in science and technology,the development and innovation of new technologies and products is becoming increasingly complex and multidisciplinary.It is true that in order to enhance innovation capabilities,"open"innovation strategies and organisational models are increasingly valued by enterprises,and many of them have established innovation"R&D platforms",which facilitate the construction of multilateral interactive innovation networks including demand side,supply side,providers and owners,and are seen as an important support for enterprises to integrate resource elements to promote innovation development.As an important part of the construction of a national innovation system,the function of R&D platform is to integrate innovation knowledge and elements,achieve interaction and synergy among innovation agents,enhance the innovation and learning capabilities of enterprises,support enterprises in achieving a balance between the accumulation of internal capabilities and the acquisition of external resources,and promote the effective acquisition,integration and allocation of internal and external innovation resources.In view of the above research status and innovation practice needs,the paper systematically examines the impact of firms'establishment of R&D platforms on their innovation performance and its mechanism,using data from the 13th China Private Enterprise Survey in 2018.The paper finds that the establishment of R&D platforms significantly increases firms'innovation output,i.e.firms that establish R&D platforms have more innovation output compared to those that do not.Further analysis also reveals that the higher the level of the established R&D platform,the better the innovation output of the enterprise.The results of the mechanism analysis show that the mediating path of R&D platforms influencing enterprise innovation is mainly manifested by the R&D plaform construction can bring policy""synergy"effect,talent"clustering"effect and innovation"incentive"effect for enterprises.It is also found that enterprises with R&D platforms are more likely to adopt the leading technology positioning and independent R&D technology sourcing strategy.Compared to existing studies,the marginal contributions of this paper are mainly in the following aspects:(1)In terms of research questions,unlike the existing literature which has confined the study of R&D platforms to theoretical analysis such as concept definition and function,this paper empirically analyses the relationship between the impact of the establishment of R&D plaforms by enterprises on enterprise innovation,expands the innovation-promoting effect of R&D platforms at the micro enterprise level,enriches the literature on R&D platforms and enterprise technological innovation,and deepens the understanding of enterprise participation in the innovation system.(2)In the S-C-P(structure-conductperformance)research paradigm,the article uses empirical evidence to consider the multilateral network structure of the platform,based on the resource dependency theory framework,to open a dialogue with the literature on social capital,human capital and dynamic innovation capabilities,and to provide a mechanism analysis framework for the study of the economic effects of innovation system construction,i.e.from the channels of policy"synergy"effect,talent"clustering"effect and innovation"incentive"effect,to open the"black box"between R&D platform construction and enterprise innovation.(3)In terms of policy implications,the conclusions obtained have important implications for the construction of realistic national innovation systems,and their specific platform construction paths.Importantly,in the process of building national autonomous innovation systems,the conclusions provide evidence to support the strengthening of the main role of enterprise innovation,the establishment of R&D platforms by enterprises,their participation in the construction of collaborative innovation networks,and the enhancement of their autonomous innovation capabilities.