绩效反馈、东道国技术环境不确定性与研发国际化模式选择

Performance feedback,technological environment uncertainty in the host country and R&D internationalization mode choice

越来越多中国企业通过开展不同模式的国际研发活动以整合、利用全球创新资源。从投资角度,任何一种模式的国际研发都是风险承担活动,且每种模式的风险水平不同。然而,现有研究对企业承担其背后风险的解释机制尚未明确。本研究采用企业行为理论,利用2008—2016年中国制造业上市公司的374个观测值构成的截面数据,探讨正、负绩效反馈对研发国际化模式选择的影响,以及东道国环境不确定性的竞争性调节效应——威胁机制还是机会机制?研究发现,正绩效反馈越大,企业越倾向于选择跨国技术合作、新建海外子公司研发部门等低风险模式;而当进入技术环境不确定性高的东道国时,正绩效反馈、负绩效反馈幅度越大越有可能选择跨国技术并购、新建海外研发机构等高风险模式。本研究丰富了企业研发国际化模式选择的解释机制和企业行为理论的适用范围,为管理者制定企业决策、政府部门制定相关激励和指导政策提供了科学思路和理论指导。

From the perspective of investment,R&D internationalization is a high-risk international investment activity.Due to the level of resource commitment and the differences between research and development,the levels of income and risk among R&D internationalization models are different.On the topic of"how to choose the R&D internationalization mode",the existing research has identified many influencing factors,such as technological capability,international experience,market and technological resources in host country,as well as strategic motivation.However,the main idea of the existing research is"the influencing factors of the degree of benefits in different models",and there is insufficient explanation for"why enterprises are willing to bear the risks behind different models".On the other hand,the behavioral theory of the firm holds that due to bounded rationality,the performance feedback between the actual performance and the aspiration level guides the decision-makers to make risk-taking decisions.However,there are still conflicting explanations for the empirical results of performance feedback,and there are a large number of contingency factors.Moreover,in the process of rapid changes in the global order and the transformation and upgrading of economies,enterprises are facing a more complex and changeable technological environment.The uncertain technological environment not only poses threat,but also brings more opportunities.Based on this,this study puts forward the following research questions:(1)whether and how does the performance feedback affect the R&D internationalization mode choice?(2)What is the moderating effect of the technological environment uncertainty in the host country on the above relationships?Threat oriented or opportunity oriented?In order to answer the above questions,based on the existing research,this paper first divides the R&D internationalization mode into four types:transnational technological cooperation,greenfield R&D functions of overseas subsidiaries,transnational technology M&A,greenfield overseas R&D institutions,and the risk level increases in turn due to the level of resource commitment and the differences between research and development.Secondly,based on the behavioral theory of the firm,this paper puts forward the hypothesis of the relationship between positive and negative performance feedback and the R&D internationalization mode choice,and further puts forward the competitive hypothesis of the moderating effect of technological environment uncertainty in the host country from two different perspectives of threat and opportunity.Then,using the cross-sectional data composed of 374 observations of 197 Chinese manufacturing listed companies with at least one international R&D activity from 2010 to 2016,this paper tests the above hypotheses.The empirical results show that:(1)when the enterprise performance is higher than the aspiration level,it tends to avoid risks and choose the R&D internationalization model with low risk,such as transnational technological cooperation,greenfield R&D functions of overseas subsidiaries.(2)The technological environment uncertainty in the host country weakens the negative relationship between positive performance feedback and high-risk models,and strengthens the positive relationship between negative performance feedback and high-risk models.That is,when entering the host country with high uncertainty of technological environment,the greater the positive performance feedback and negative performance feedback,the more likely it is to choose the high-risk R&D internationalization mode,such as transnational technology M&A,greenfield overseas R&D institutions.The results confirm the opportunity mechanism hypothesis of technological environment uncertainty.This paper provides a behavioral framework for explaining the impact of performance feedback and the technological environment uncertainty in the host country on the choice of R&D internationalization mode,and provides some new insights for explaining the phenomenon of R&D internationalization and the application of performance feedback.Firstly,this paper emphasizes the cause of risk-taking behavior behind the choice of R&D internationalization mode,which enriches the research in the field of R&D internationalization.This paper explores performance feedback as the driving force for enterprises to bear the risks behind R&D internationalization,and supplements the existing literature that depends more on resource view,capability view and institution view.Secondly,this study uses the framework of competitive hypothesis to test the moderating mechanism of the host country′s technological environment uncertainty on the relationship between performance feedback and R&D internationalization mode choice,which helps to fully understand the role of technological environment uncertainty in R&D internationalization decision-making,and also tests the boundary condition of performance feedback mechanism.In practice,this paper provides decision-making ideas for enterprise managers to make decisions on R&D internationalization,and provides a scientific basis for government departments to formulate relevant policies to guide and support overseas R&D investment,which will be conducive to integrate and leverage global innovation resources.