Effects Of Technological Innovation Pattern Portfolios On Firm Innovation Performance

Innovation is the driving force and the key to maintaining national competitiveness. The importance of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy is stressed in the 13th Five-Year Plan which puts"innovation" in the first place. Currently, "China's three carriages"(i.e.,investment, export, consumption) of promoting economic development is limited in the economy of three superimposed stages. Coupled with domestic supply constraints and under the multiple pressure of international competition, it's an inevitable choice for China's economy to turn to innovation-driven. As Xi general secretary pointed out, in order to implemente the innovation-driven development strategy, China must adhere to the dominant position of firms in innovation, enhance the ability of independent innovation, and master the strategic initiative of a new round of global scientific and technological competition. China should strengthen international cooperation in all aspects, adhere to reconcile the two strategies of "bring in" and "going out", actively integrate into the global innovation network, and comprehensively improve the level of international cooperation in science and technology innovation.As the main body of implementing innovation-driven development strategy, innovation is the source of sustaining firm's competitive advantage. In the context of globalization, firm's internal independent innovation is the first driving force for its development. While, in practice,firms not only focus on internal innovation, but also on cooperation with domestic and foreign institutional innovation. So, technological innovation patterns of the firm which can be chosen are becoming more and more multiple. And the technological innovation pattern is an important factor affecting the innovation performance which makes us think: what kind of performance will be brought to firms and how does it influence firm performance by chosing technological innovation patterns?What kind of relationship will be among multiple technolugical innovation patterns and how do they influence innovation performance?Based on the existing studies, a firm can obtain the technical knowledge of external organizations through technological innovation patterns such as domestic innovation cooperation and innovation internationalization. However, these technical knowledge can not be directly or automatically internalized into the firm's own innovation ability which can improve innovation performance. Firm heterogeneity which is the difference of knowledge and ability accumulated by a firm for a long time is an important factor that affects their internalization. So what is the role of firm heterogeneity in the relationship betwenn multiple technological innovation patterns and innovation performance?Under the special context of China, as the driving force of innovation, government has a wealth of innovative resources which can influence firm heterogeneity by allocating scientific and technological resource, supplying institutional and public services and so on. In order to obtain the optimal firm performance, how should government involve in firm's innovation by influencing firm heterogeneity?In order to answer these questions, the dissertation devides patterns of technological innovation into three types and four portfolios, that is,internal innovation, domestic cooperation innovation and innovation internationalization, based on the existing research and the expansion of innovation geographic boundary. Furthermore, in this dissertation,portfolios of firm's technologcial innovation patterns are divided into four situations based on the internal innovation: "internal innovation","internal innovation + domestic cooperation innovation”,“internal innovation + innovation internationalization" and "internal innovation +domestic cooperation innovation + innovation internationalization".Secondly, the dissertation makes four sub-studies systematicaly based on the perspectvie of firm heterogeneity. First, the dissertation verifies the relationship between technological innovation portfolios and firm performance, in this part, we focus on solving two questions: (1) what kind of relationship will be among multiple technological innovation patterns and how does it influence innovation performance? (2) how do technological innovation portfolios influence firm's different innovation performance? Second, the dissertation tests how does firm heterogenaity affect the relationship between multiple technological innovation portfolios and firm's innovation performance on the view of moderation mechanism, in this part, we focus on solving whether the effects of multiple technological innovation portfolios on firm's diverse innovation performance are impacted by firm heterogenaity. Third, the dissertation tests how does firm heterogenaity affect the relationship between multiple technological innovation portfolios and firm's innovation performance on the view of mediation mechanism, this part focused on answering whether there is a different role that firm heterogenaity plays in the relationship among multiple technological innovation portfolio and firm's innovation performance. Fourth, the dissertation brings government involvement which is an important external contextual factor into the research framework, in order to investigate the influence of the horizontal and vertical government involvement on the firm heterogeneity. In summary, this dissertation introduces technological innovation pattern portfolios as a new variable to breakthrough the limitation of the relationship between the single technological innovation pattern and innovation performance. From the perspective of firm heterogeneity, the dissertation profoundly analyzes the mechanism of how technology innovation pattern portfolios influence firm's innovation performance and the role of governm in the mechanism what is.Conclusions of the dissertation are as follows:First, the direct impacts of technological portfolios on firms diverse innovation performancea. arbitrary sigle technological innovation pattern is positively correlated with incremental innovation performance and radical innovation performance. And the role of internal innovation is greater.b. there are various relationships between multiple potofilos and performance. The portfolio of "internal innovation +intenationalization innovation" positively affects incremental innovation performance and radical innovation performance. And it has a greater effect on radical innovation performance. And other assumptions are partially confirmed.c. the results which are about the relationship among the three multiple technological innovation patterns show that there is a more siginificant complementary relationship between internal innovation and domestic cooperation innovation for firm's incremental innovation performance.And there is a more siginificant complementary relationship between internal innovation and internationalization innovation for firm's radical innovation performance. While there is a substitute relationship between domestic cooperation innovation and innovation internationalization. And it's more significant for firm's radical innovation performance.Second, the results about moderating mechnism show that firm's heterogeneity (i.e., absorptive capacity) is an important inner contextual factor for influencing the relationship between multiple technological innovation patterns and firm's innovation performance. It can strengthen the influence degree of the relationship between the technological innovation portfolio"S3" and firm's innovation performance. And the moderating effect on firm's radical innovation performance is larger than that on firm's incremental innovation performance. And other assumptions are partially confirmed in this part.Third, the results about mediating mechnism show that firm heterogeneity is an important mediating factor for influencing the relationship between multiple technological innovation patterns and firm's innovation performance. It plays a mediating role in the relationship between technological innovation portfolios"S2" and firm's innovation performance.So does "S3". And other assumptions are partially confirmed.Fourth, in this chapter, results show that there are differences in the role of government involvement. Technical trading market activity and the number of research institutions at the provincial level and above play a more significant role in the dual mechanism of the firm's heterogeneity.While others are not verified significantly.Enlightenments of the dissertation are mainly manifested in:Firstly, the dissertation reveals the relationship among the diversified technological innovation patterns. To a certain extent, it explains the reasons why there is a controversy about the relationship between internal innovation and external one. Under the background of open innovation and internationalization, it is not feasible to rely solely on internal technological innovation pattern to improve innovation performance,especsically for firms which chase radical innovation performance.With the help of multiple technological innovation patterns, firms should integrate and utilize global innovation resources with an open attitude,and actively integrate into the global innovation network. It is necessary to pay attention to the relationship between internal and external technological innovation pattern, and also to consider the relationship between the two external cooperation innovation patterns when reassembling technological innovation patterns. It is found that there is a complementary relationship between the internal technological innovation pattern and two kinds of external technological innovation patterns,howerver, this complementary relationship is reflected in the different innovation performance (i.e., the internal technological innovation pattern and the domestic cooperative technological innovation pattern have a the complementary relationship with the incremental innovation performance,and the internal technological innovation pattern and the innovation internationalization have the complementary relationship with the radical innovation performance). And there is an alternative relationship between the two patterns of external technological innovation. This provides a reference for finding the best portfolios of multiple technological innovation patterns to improve the innovation ability and innovation performance.Secondly, the dissertation analyzes the dual influence mechanism of firm heterogeneity on the relationship between technological innovation paterns or portfolios and innovation performance by introducing technological innovation pattern portfolios as a new variable. Portfolios of technological innovation paterns have an important impact on firm's innovation performance. Firms need to combine with their own characteristics and match with heterogeneity when chosing technological innovation portfolios. Firms should strengthen their own internal technological innovation ability and actively cooperate with domestic and foreign firms and other organizations to improve their absorptive capacity.Thirdly, from the mechanism of two directions, the dissertation opens the micro role of government in the relationship among portfolios of technological innovation patterns, firm heterogeneity and innovation performance. In the context of implementing innovation-driven development strategy, the appropriate government involvement is conducive to create a good environment for innovation. Under the combination of the government(i.e., visible hand) and the market (i.e., invisible hand), we can promote innovation development better. As the dominant driving force of innovation, government should pay more attention to the direction of involing in firm's innovation activities, and need to vary "from firm to firm".