中试运行中的知识问题缓解:行动者网络管理的作用

Mitigation of Knowledge Problems in Pilot and Demonstration Plants:The Role of Actor Network Management

中试在科技成果转化中发挥重要作用,但不确定性、复杂性、模糊性3类知识问题制约着中试的有效运行。现有研究未明晰中试运行情境下知识问题破解机制,如何缓解中试运行知识问题有待深入探究。选取264份企业层面调研数据进行实证分析,识别3类知识问题对中试运行有效性的影响,利用行动者激活/解除策略和网络目标实现策略缓解中试运行过程中遇到的知识问题。研究发现:(1)不确定性、模糊性对中试运行有效性具有负向影响,且模糊性的负向影响更显著,复杂性对中试运行有效性的影响作用不显著;(2)行动者激活/解除策略与网络目标实现策略均能够有效缓解不确定性和模糊性对中试运行的负向影响。研究结论不仅能够弥补中试运行管理研究的不足,还可为应对和解决中试运行中的知识问题提供实践启示,促进中试有效运行进一步明朗化。

A large number of lab-developed technologies fail to make it to market smoothly because of a lack of funds and paying customers.The pilot and demonstration plants serve as an important driving force for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements by acting as a key link for the industrialization of laboratory research and development results.After experiencing process verification,structural inspection,small-quantity trial production and marketing,the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements can reach 80%,so the pilot and demonstration plants are a crucial factor affecting the speed and range of scientific and technological transformation,and their key role cannot be ignored.However,the effective operation of the pilot and demonstration plants has to tackle three kinds of knowledge problems:high uncertainty,complexity and fuzziness.These problems are embedded in the whole process of the pilot and demonstration plants,which is what hinders their effective operation.Uncertainty makes it difficult for enterprises to identify and solve the problems in pilot and demonstration plants;complexity makes it confusing for enterprises to master a variety of key knowledge and clarify the priority of tasks in a short period of time;and fuzziness makes it challenging to balance and coordinate the interests of actors.Therefore,the knowledge problem has a serious negative impact on the effective operation of the pilot and demonstration plants,but the existing literature lacks in-depth discussion on how to manage the knowledge problem to improve the effectiveness of the pilot and demonstration plants.The pilot and demonstration plants are usually embedded in multi-actor networks with interwoven relationships based on the theory of network management.Therefore,the management of the actor network is an essential element in opening the"black box"that hinders the effective operation of the pilot and demonstration plants.Actor network management refers to the control or guidance of network processes,the promotion of interaction among actors,the creation and adjustment of network arrangements to coordinate cooperation,exchange and communication,and the achievement of good goals in complex interaction and decision-making processes.Hence,key knowledge and resources could be introduced to the pilot and demonstration plants,and the network structure could be optimized to stimulate more capable actors to respond to the pilot and demonstration plants emergencies,encourage adequate communication among actors to strengthen the sense of cooperation and knowledge sharing,improve the effectiveness of the pilot and demonstration plants,and realize the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.Therefore,this paper sorts out and excavates the connotation and characteristics of the three types of knowledge problems in the operation of the pilot and demonstration plants,studies and clarifies the differential impacts of different knowledge problems on the operation of the pilot and demonstration plants,and uses actor activation/disactivation strategies and network goal realization strategies to mitigate the knowledge problems in the pilot and demonstration plants.The questionnaire is designed based on the mature scales at home and abroad,and a pre-survey is conducted to ensure the reliability and validity of the scale.Then a total of 264 enterprise survey data is collected by questionnaires distributed online and offline.SPSS21.0 and Amos 21.0 are used to carry out data analysis,and nine hypotheses are tested by the empirical analyses.The results show that(1)uncertainty and fuzziness have negative effects on the effectiveness of the pilot and demonstration plants,and the negative effect of fuzziness is stronger,and complexity has no significant effect on the effectiveness of the pilot and demonstration plants;(2)both the actor activation/disactivation strategies and the network goal realization strategy can effectively mitigate the negative impact of uncertainty and fuzziness on the pilot and demonstration plants.The study not only makes up for the deficiency of the study on the operation management of pilot and demonstration plants,but also provides practical insights for better coping and solving knowledge problems,which is helpful to further clarify the effective operation of the pilot and demonstration plants.