后发企业如何超越追赶?——基于海天集团的技术创新与产品类别协同研究

How do Latecomer Firms Realize Beyond Catch-up?Research on Synergistic Mechanism of Technological Innovation and Product Category based on the Case of Haitian

在高质量发展背景下,中国后发企业既要致力技术创新又要构建产品类别才能赶超领先企业,然而以往研究大多限于技术创新或产品类别的单一维度探讨,对二者动态协同缺乏关注。本研究从整合角度,搭建“追赶压力—追赶行为—追赶结果”的分析框架,并以在电动注塑机领域赶超的海天集团为案例研究对象,研究发现:在追赶阶段,后发企业面对进入压力,通过采取“模仿创新—类别沿用”的相似协同机制,而获得合法性;在超越追赶阶段,后发企业面对竞争压力,通过采用“自主创新—类别跨越”的差异协同机制,而取得竞争优势。其中,后发企业的技术策略和类别策略受到所在行业技术体制和市场结构等外部情境约束,后发企业的定位转移与目标变迁从内部推动追赶阶段向超越追赶阶段跨越,后发企业的动态协同能力持续提升是其根本保证。本研究构建了技术创新与产品类别动态协同的理论模型,揭示了后发追赶的内在规律,从“技术—认知”整合视角为后发追赶带来了新的解释,以“技术创新—产品类别”协同丰富了后发追赶的微观机制研究,为中国后发企业赶超世界领先企业提供了新的管理启示。

From the perspective of the world,the latecomers in emerging economies are easy to fall into the trap of"catch-up-fall behind-catch-up".However,in recent years,a number of China's latecomer firms continue to expand their scale of development and improve their innovation ability,and gradually get rid of the latecomer catch up trap.In the context of high-quality development era,China's latecomer firms are increasingly moving forward from the"catch-up"stage,which focuses on imitation and following,into the"beyond catch-up"stage,which focuses on exploration and innovation.In the process above,latecomer firms face the double pressure of new market entry and competition.They must get rid of the trap of technology following and overcome the bias of market cognition.So how can latecomers catch up?The theory of technological innovation and the theory of product category put forward useful research attempts from the technological dimension and cognitive dimension respectively.However,most of the previous literatures were limited to the discussion of a single dimension of technological innovation or product category,and lack of paying attention to the dynamic synergy between them in the process of beyond catching up.This research builds an analytical framework of"catch-up pressure-catch-up actions-catch-up result"'.Through a longitudinal case study of Hatian's latecomer catch-up process in the field of electric injection molding machines from 2001 to 2021,it finds that:in the catch-up stage from 2002 to 2011,as the"runner-up",Hatian has a big gap with the incumbent leading firms,mainly facing the entry pressure caused by technical barriers and market thresholds.Hatian has these obvious disadvantages in both technology and cognition and must focus on solving the problem of obtaining legitimacy,while its own resources and capabilities were relatively short.Therefore,adhering to the logic of"seeking common ground",Hatian adopts the similar collaborative mechanism of imitation innovation and category use,thus realizing the legitimacy quickly and stably.In the catch-up stage from 2012 to 2021,as a"parallel runner",Haitian has a small gap with existing leading firms,mainly facing the competitive pressure caused by technology comparison and market selection.Haitian still has relative disadvantages in technology and cognition,so it must focus on solving the problem of obtaining competitive advantages,while its own resources and capabilities are relatively abundant.Therefore,adhering to the logic of""differentiation",Haitian adopt the differentiation coordination mechanism of independent innovation and category crossing to keep the competitive advantage continuously.In general,the core mechanism for latecomers to catch up with leading firms is the dynamic synergy of"technology innovation-product category".Catch-up pressure is the antecedent of each stage,positioning shifts and goal changes are the driving force of stage leapfrog,and the continuous improvement of dynamic synergy ability provides a guarantee for it.It follows a reference path of obtaining legitimacy through similarity synergy and then gaining competitive advantage through difference synergy.This study builds a theoretical model of dynamic synergy between technology innovation and product category,reveals the internal law of latecomers'catch-up.In terms of theoretical contribution,this study brings a new explanation for latecomers'catch-up from the integration perspective of"technology-cognition".This study bridges the two theories of technology innovation and category,responses to the call of representative scholars and makes a new attempt to link innovation theory and cognitive theory.The synergy of"technology innovation-product category"has enriched the research on the micro-mechanism of late catch-up,and further enriched the catch-up strategies under different industrial technical regime and market structures.The conclusion of this study provides two management enlightenments for latecomer enterprises to catch up with the leading enterprises.First,the managers of latecomer enterprises should have an integrated thinking framework.Second,latecomers should adjust their strategic goals according to different stages and situations,keeping pace with The Times and adapting to local conditions.