数字化赋能视角下制造企业创新生态系统演化研究

Evolution of Innovation Ecosystem of Manufacturing Companies from the Perspective of Digital Empowerment

从数字化赋能视角出发,以制造业领先企业海尔集团创新生态系统为例,基于事件系统理论对发展过程中与数字化赋能相关的关键事件进行梳理,从心理赋能、结构赋能、资源赋能3个维度,分析系统发展阶段的关键事件赋能行为与赋能结果,揭示数字化赋能视角下制造企业创新生态系统演化机理。结果表明:海尔集团创新生态系统演化经历了生态系统雏形、平台搭建、星际生态3个阶段,是从0到1再到N的演化过程,心理赋能、结构赋能及资源赋能在创新生态系统演化过程中分别扮演内生动力、前提条件、关键动因的角色;在系统演化不同阶段,数字化赋能行为存在差异,赋能结果也有所不同。

With the advent of the digital era,the manufacturing industry is in urgent need of being empowered by digital technologies to take the initiative of high-quality development and promote the realization of Made in China 2025.At the same time,driven by the continuous iteration of digital technology empowerment,the borderless,interconnected,and uncertain characteristics of digital technology innovation have transcended the boundaries of traditional innovation theory research on manufacturing enterprises.The independent and internalized innovation development model can no longer adapt to the abrupt changes and iterative technology requirements,and innovation activities are more embedded in the relationship network.More and more manufacturing enterprises gradually form innovation ecosystems in the process of complex interaction and collaborative evolution,and achieve innovation-driven and high-quality development in the dynamic evolution of the system,attracting academic concerns about the evolution of the innovation ecosystem.Regarding the evolution of the innovation ecosystem,both the structure of subjects and resource flow in the system will have an impact on it.Scholars have studied the evolution of the enterprise innovation ecosystem from the perspectives of subject competition and collaboration,population richness,and changes in resource quantity,but have ignored the impact of digital technology development on the innovation ecosystem,and have paid little attention to the evolution of the innovation ecosystem in the new context of digital empowerment.In fact,with the change in the enterprise innovation model,the innovation ecosystem has also become the object of digital empowerment.Psychological empowerment and structural empowerment have an impact on the main structure of the system,while resource empowerment has an impact on the flow of resources in the system.This paper studies the development of the innovation ecosystem of Haier Group,a leading manufacturing enterprise,in the new context of digital empowerment,striving to open the"black box"of the relationship between digital empowerment and the evolution of the innovation ecosystem in attempts to promote manufacturing enterprises to effectively utilize the digital technologies to empower the innovation ecosystem,promote system evolution,and gain competitive advantages.With the analysis of empowering behaviors and outcomes of key events at different stages of system development,the study indicates firstly that the evolution of Haier Group's innovation ecosystem has undergone three stages:ecosystem prototype,platform construction,and interstellar ecology,which is an evolutionary process from 0 to 1 and then to N.Psychological empowerment,structural empowerment,and resource empowerment respectively play the roles of endogenous dynamics,preconditions,and key drivers in the evolution of the innovation ecosystem,deepening the understanding of endogenous dynamics,preconditions,and key drivers in the evolution of the innovation ecosystem.Secondly,the analysis confirms that digital empowerment behaviors differ at different stages of the system evolution and produce different empowerment results.In the embryonic stage of the ecosystem,psychological empowerment and structural empowerment promote the transformation of members'thinking,while structural empowerment and resource empowerment promote the acquisition of innovative resources;in the platform construction stage,it mainly relies on the digital platform to play a role.Psychological empowerment and structural empowerment promote the improvement of the connectivity ability of the innovation ecosystem,while structural empowerment and resource empowerment jointly promote the improvement of intelligent capabilities;in the interstellar ecological stage,psychological empowerment promotes the enhancement of members'sense of efficacy,structural empowerment promotes the enhancement of system attractiveness and the breaking of boundary barriers,and resource empowerment promotes value-added sharing and value circulation.The main contribution of this study is its focus on the role of digital empowerment in the evolution of the manufacturing enterprise innovation ecosystem from the perspective of digital empowerment with consideration of both subject and resource aspects,which makes up for the problem of a single perspective and single dimension in existing research.Meanwhile,in addition to the single-case longitudinal research method,the event system theory and method are also applied to make the evolution research of the innovation ecosystem more scientific and present a clearer explanation of the evolution laws of the system.At the same time,it also expands the research ideas and methods of the innovation ecosystem of manufacturing enterprises.