客户集中度与公司创新投入——基于客户议价能力视角

Customer Concentration and Company Innovation——Based on the Perspective of Customer Bargaining Power and Property Rights

客户集中度是公司做出创新决策时需要重点考虑的因素,也是影响公司创新投入的关键变量。基于客户议价能力视角,探讨客户集中度与公司创新的关系,以2006—2017年沪深两市A股上市公司为样本,采用研发费用的对数和研发费用占总资产的比例作为公司创新投入的衡量指标,实证检验客户集中度对公司创新投入的影响,以及客户议价能力与客户集中度的交互效应。研究发现:第一,客户集中度越高,公司创新投入越低。从经济意义上来看,采用前五大客户销售比例之和作为客户集中度的衡量指标时,前五大客户销售比例之和增加1%,研发费用的对数平均减少41.5%,而研发费用占总资产的比例平均减少0.8%;采用前五大客户销售比例的平方和作为客户集中度的衡量指标时,前五大客户销售比例的平方和增加1%,研发费用的对数平均减少74.4%,而研发费用占总资产的比例平均减少1.3%。第二,客户议价能力越强,高客户集中度对公司创新投入的抑制作用越强;在非国有企业样本中,高客户集中度对公司创新投入的抑制作用更明显。因此,在既定的行业集中度和产权性质条件下,企业应当在创新投入和客户集中度管理中间进行权衡,减少高客户集中度对创新投入的不利影响;综合考量行业集中度、产权性质和客户集中度的关系,提升公司的创新能力,改善创新环境。

Customer concentration is the key factor that companies need to consider when making innovation decisions,and it is also the key variable that affects the company’s innovation investment. From the perspective of customer bargaining power,the atuhors explore the relationship between customer concentration and company innovation. Taking A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2006 to 2017 as samples,the authors empirically test the effect of customer concentration on company innovation and the interaction between customer bargaining power and customer concentration. The results show that:the higher the customer concentration,the lower the innovation investment of the company,in economic sense,when the sum of the top five customer sales ratios is used as a measure of customer concentration,the logarithm of R&D expenditure decreases by 41.5% on average,while the proportion of R&D expenditure to total assets decreases by 0.8% on average when the sum of the top five customer sales ratios increases by 1%;when the sum of the squares of the top five customer sales proportion is used as a measure of customer concentration,the logarithm of R&D expenditure decreases by 74.4% on average,while the proportion of R&D expenditure to total assets decreases by 1.3% on average when the sum of the squares of the current five customer sales proportion increases by 1%. Besides,the author also find that:the stronger the bargaining power of the customer,the stronger the inhibition effect of customer concentration on the innovation investment of the company;and the inhibition effect is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises. Under the given conditions of industry concentration and property right,the company should balance innovation investment and customer concentration to reduce the adverse impact of customer concentration on innovation investment. And the company should comprehensively consider the relationship between industry concentration,property right and customer concentration,so as to enhance the innovation ability of the company and improve the innovation environment.