创新困境下的制造业企业战略响应——基于创新绩效期望落差与响应式搜索行为的研究

Strategic Response of Manufacturing Enterprises under Innovation Dilemma:Research on Innovation Performance below Aspiration and Responsive Search Behavior

随着商业环境动态性持续加剧和不确定性逐步增强,制造业企业如何在激烈的创新竞争中保持优势位置是一个无法回避的管理问题。现有研究广泛探讨了影响企业创新绩效的各种因素,但仍需进一步关注企业在面临创新困境中采取战略响应行为的多样性及其背后蕴含的深层逻辑。本文从企业行为理论视角,利用中国A股制造业上市企业的样本,探讨了制造业企业在面临创新困境(创新绩效期望落差)下的响应式搜索行为。研究发现,创新绩效期望落差显著促进企业的两类响应式搜索行为,即跨地区和跨行业搜索行为。在引入工具变量、控制样本自选择、双重差分估计以及更换回归方法等一系列检验后,结论依然稳健。路径分析显示,创新绩效期望落差主要通过激发高管风险承担意愿和强化高管创新关注程度进而影响制造业企业的两类响应式搜索行为。异质性分析表明,上述正向影响在国有企业、财务绩效低于期望水平和分属高科技产业时更为明显。拓展分析显示,创新绩效期望落差会驱动制造业企业更倾向在技术水平先进的行业和商业环境成熟的地区进行搜寻。本文将创新管理目标、组织绩效反馈与企业响应式搜索行为有机结合起来,拓展和深化了制造业企业在创新困境下的战略响应行为研究。

With the intensification of the dynamic nature of the business environment and its increasing uncertainties,the increasing VUCA aggravates the innovation risk and the possibility of innovation failure of manufacturing enterprises,which makes them more likely to fall into the competitive dilemma of innovation performance below the aspiration or industrial average level.Existing studies have explored factors that affect the innovation performance of enterprises.However,they lack attention to the diversity of strategic response behaviors of enterprises in the face of innovation performance dilemmas and its deep logic.Based on the firm behavior theory,this study aims to explore the impact of innovation dilemma(innovation performance below aspiration)on responsive search behavior of manufacturing enterprises.Based on the sample of Chinese listed manufacturing enterprises from 2011 to 2020,this study finds that the innovation performance below aspiration significantly promotes the two types of responsive search behaviors(cross-region and cross-industry search behaviors)of enterprises,and the conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests.The path analysis shows that the innovation performance below aspiration mainly affects the two types of responsive search behaviors in manufacturing enterprises by stimulating the willingness of executives to take risks and strengthening innovation attention of executives.The heterogeneity test shows that the above positive effects are more significant when the nature of an enterprise is state-owned,the financial performance is below the aspiration,and the industry attribute is high-tech industry.The expansion analysis shows that the innovation performance below aspiration will drive manufacturing enterprises to search more in hightech industries,and areas with mature business environment.The contributions are as follows.Firstly,it enriches the diversity of corporate strategic behavior in response to innovation dilemma,and expands the mixed performance feedback from innovation and financial management goals.Secondly,based on literature on enterprise market expansion,it broadens heterogeneity of enterprises'search behavior and reveals driving factors of this behavior.Thirdly,it strengthens the theoretical explanation mechanism that the innovation performance below aspiration stimulates senior executives to take risks.Fourthly,it enriches research on the impact of enterprise management objectives on managers'attention allocation.The policy suggestions are as follows.Firstly,when firms get stuck in innovation dilemma,managers need to actively carry out the search behavior combined with the feedback information and improve the innovation ability through the absorption and reorganization of new technology and knowledge.Secondly,government departments need to strengthen the innovation consciousness of private enterprises,and encourage them to adopt responsive search behavior in the innovation dilemma bravely.It is also necessary to provide policy support for the technological innovation of private manufacturing enterprises,alleviate shortcomings of social resource acquisition,and make them implement search behavior more effectively.Thirdly,enterprise decision-makers need to compare the feedback information of different management objectives simultaneously,and consider multiple objectives to allocate resources and decision attention.Fourthly,government departments need to guide the non-high-tech manufacturing industry to attach importance to technological innovation and promote enterprises to adopt responsive search behavior to reverse the dilemma.