| With the global economic integration, intra-industry and intra-product division trend becoming more and more apparent, Chinese enterprises face a more complex competition and management situation. On the one hand, with the trend of intra-production specialization in the global market, each tache of global value chains is further subdivided. Vertical cutting provides a new space and inserting into global value chain for the enterprise. More importantly, followed by the logic of intra-product division and pay attention to the low-end enterprise in the tache of global value chain of high-end embedded can expand the space of value creation and reduce the suppression of the enterprise who advanced in global value chain. On the other hand, leading multinational companies in developed countries compete in the international market through the manipulation of global value chains and determine the value of the income distribution rights worldwide. Our enterprise has a big gap in management capabilities, research and development capabilities, overseas investment decision-making ability, and the ability to integrate various resources compared with a world-class enterprise. Most enterprises are being captured in the global value chain system, controlled and governed in a weak position, focus on the low end of the value chain in the global manufacturing and assembly areas. Global value chains "low lock" is not only caused by China’s enterprises have less power in the distribution of income in the value chain, as China’s demographic dividend gradually disappear, but also the supporting of "Made in China" cost advantage is difficult to guarantee. The rising costs of production and reducing in enterprises profits will make further weakening the power of innovation and inhibition.Based on the grounded theory and cross-case analysis and responding to these competition and management situation, this study conducted a systematic study to strategic framework and stretch path about low-end enterprises embeddedness in the top of GVC. Significance mainly in three aspects:First, the study has enriched the field of strategic management especially strategic change the relevant theory with the view of strategic stretch. Second, the study can provide guidance for low-end high-end embedded business practice for companies to break the global value chain "low locked" to enhance the international competitiveness force is important. Third, the study made an emphasis on entrepreneurial strategic stretch awareness and recognition of the senior management team decision-making role, and concerned about how to match the internal and external environment to transformation strategy and business model, which are good for seek "leverage solution" to the enterprises embeddedness in the top of GVC.This study follows the philosophy of the path "Research bps established→Case Studies→Model Construction→Verification mechanism→Construction and Application of the theory" to expand the following research. Firstly, research the related theories. The research emphasizes the role of "best practices" in the theoretical reserch, select Haier, Geely, Wanhua three companies as samples by standard grounded theory coding techniques, extending the firm’s strategy to make the process of exploratory research, and propose a conceptual framework and proposition system. Thirdly, that is the theoretical model building of enterprise strategic stretch. Based on the combination of existing research on enterprise strategic stretch conditions, orientation, meaning, the elements and structure, the driving force, the path, the internal mechanism to compare research, build a theoretical model of enterprise strategic stretch in the case of discovery. Fourth, that is the analysis and verification of the mechanism of the enterprises extension strategy. We do further analysis and verification of the mechanism of the enterprises extension strategy though the systemic stimulation of its system dynamics model.Based on the above, this study discussed connotation, denotation, the proposition system, stretch mechanism and boundary conditions for strategic stretch of theoretical construction.Firstly, it is the connotation of strategic stretch. It is process of applying, choosing and broking of the enterprises routines. The essence of extension strategy is low-end enterprises compete and corporate with the leading enterprises in the division of global value system and expand in the range of global value chain for value activity. According to the extension strategy, low-end enterprises come up with the existing level of Intangible assets, achieve the extenuation by self. It also makes combination with the global value chains, continue to promote the low-end to high-end embedded enterprise ultimately endogenous embedded in the global value chain.Secondly, it is the extension of strategic stretch. The different partition of strategic stretch extension is based on different viewing angle. From the point of strategic classify, strategic stretch can be divided into three main categories:technical extension, operating extension and institutional extension, and five small categories:technology innovation strategy extension, market and brand strategy extension, competitive strategy extension, internal management strategies extension and corporate culture strategy extension. From the point of business activity process, the framework of the strategic stretch extension is consist of basic environment, strategy-driven, strategy implementation and strategic control. Stretch implementation is the core of the corporate strategy extension. On the basis of different situations, it can be divided into following strategy, strategic strategy and autonomous strategy. From the view of structure of the theoretical model, corporate strategy extension is a system architecture consist of initial conditions, stretch orientation, stretch driving force, stretch implementation, results of the stretch implementation, inherent mechanism, embedded performance and stretch control.Thirdly, that is the proposition system of the enterprises extension strategy. Proposition system is composed by four parts. The first part is concerning about integrated environment and target orientation. The international division of labor presents the deepening trend of the division among the horizontal products. The integrated environment of the global value chain which the enterprises take part in has changed. It is necessary to reexamine the conventional standard of the high-end and low-end global value chain. The low-end enterprises can not only embed high-end in terms of the vertical division; in spite of technology and market step, it can inset the high-end in the sense of horizontal division. The second part is the premise and the basic of enterprises extension strategy. The low-end enterprises should be equipped with a certain basic, capacity and good reputation. They should matched leading enterprises in terms of scale and technology. And enterprises can study from each other. Entrepreneur as the core of the senior management team is the key condition which drive enterprise strategic stretch, entrepreneurs strategy to stretch awareness and recognition of the senior management team determines the strategic transformation of the decision-making and low-end enterprise business model innovation, and ultimately determines the direction of extension of corporate strategy.Finally, it is extension of corporate strategy implementation and control. Stretch implementation is actually the game between a low-end enterprise and leading enterprises. Therefore, embedding is affected by corporate reputation, trust, fairness of the distribution of benefits and other factors. In the process of extension strategy implementation, enterprises should strengthen absorption capacity of leading core technology and seize the opportunity to actively interface standards among the world’s frontier technologies. Enterprises must match the resources and markets; promote creative integration of resources, reconstruction, acquisition and release. Through organizational learning, shaping dynamic capabilities within the enterprise to promote endogenous embedded into the global value chain. Entrepreneurship and corporate culture play a decisive role in the strategic control.Fourthly, it is the internal mechanisms of conceptual link of strategic stretch. With the change of the elements which influence the strategic stretch in the enterprise, the embededness cognitive performance will not be improved in short term. This is because the corporate identity cognition has certain apriority. Relational embeddedness is based on the performance caused by the interaction of the "two relationship", therefore the variable, especially those related to the income distribution, sense of fairness, make the embed cognitive performance improve significantly in short term. While, the structure embedded performance influence the variable the most. Some indicators like the improvement of entrepreneurs strategic stretch consciousness, the level of decision identification of senior management team and reasonableness of global value chains income distribution might bring the improvement of the performance in short term.In contrast, the joint of more competitors might destroy the global chain ecosystem. It might even cause the decrease of the construct embedded performance; thereby affect the overall embedded performance.Fifthly, that is the theoretical boundary of strategic stretch. At first, this study doing the cross-case study to strategic stretch by selecting three companies:Haier, Geely and Wanhua, which can reveal the strategic stretch framework and path problems of manufacturing companies. However, due to the value chain of three companies belongs to producer-driven type, further research is needed about whether the research conclusions can be used in guiding buyers driven value chain and the development of other industries. Secondly, the essence of strategic stretch is the competition and cooperation of low-end enterprises and leading enterprises under the Global Value division system, the research conclusions just apply to the high-end embedded questions of low-end enterprises in our country in global value chain. About the problems of how likely the theory can support the domestic value chain embed of enterprise, it needs further discussion. Finally, strategic stretch has the same research logic as development economics. The research logic of development economics is focusing on the economic catch-up of developing countries. Essentially, strategic stretch is a catch-up theory as well. Whether strategic stretch theories can transplantation for guiding the leading enterprises in global value chains or the innovation and development issues of general advantage enterprises, it needs further verification.This study has three innovative points. First, this study promoted and tested the existence of the strategic stretch and promoted some main points, such as "strategy will make considerable progress with the advancing GVC", and "strategic stretch will promoete enterprise to the top of GVC". This study shows that the low-end enterprises can achieve the embededness in the top of GVC by the progress with the advancing GVC. And strategic stretch is the internal mechanism of the enterprise embededness and upgrade. More specifically, enterprise embededness is the consequences of recognition on the top of GVC. It is the recognition that inspires the enterprise growth. By the linkage with leading firms, the low-end enterprises can learn and imitate from those leading firms in manufacturing, market and technical field. And low-end enterprises can also achieve the structual embededness by cooperation and inter-construction between different firms. Till this the upgrad go through a complete cycle. With the increasing strength the low-end enterprises will take the next higher step and break the top limit till the embededness in the top of GVC. Second, the construction of enterprise strategic stretch discussed the initial conditions, stretch orientation, driving force, stretch implementation, strategic management and control, the internal mechanism and embedded system performance and other issues, which promoted the study about strategic management, especially strategic change and management innovation. This study assumes that the embeddedness in the top of GVC contains three modules:recognition, relational and structural embeddedness. This view matches the embeddedness theory and research need, help to measure the embeddedness performance and make a strong Construct Validity of strategic stretch. Second, connecting the strategic stretch with embeddedness performance, the study adjusted the stretch elements based on changes in the performance of its mechanism, which is the new attempts to corporate innovation activities, and promoted the study about enterprise upgrading, dynamic capability and core competence. Third, this study promoted the study of the co-competition relationship between low-end enterprises and leading enterprises, this study suggested that not only technology and market of GVC but also the higer-end of some segment can be the goal orientation of strategic stretch, which provide the wider space of strategic stretch, reduce the compete intensity, and make a theoretical promotion on the level and structure of GVC. Also, building on the view of co-opetition, the study holds that the enterprise can compete with its competitors in R&D, and cooperate in other fields, which expands the research on GVC, especially contrasts with those views on enterprise upgrade which argues the importance of "repression-overtake "... |
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