The Choice Of Innovation Partner In Different Firms’ Scale

Along with China speeded up the upgrade pace of industry, the governments at all levels attached importance to equipment manufacturing industry because of its high technical content and strong effect on other industrial sector support. China’s equipment manufacturing industry has experienced a fast development, and China became the world’s largest machinery manufacturer after its overall industry scale reached and exceeded that in USA and Japan in2010. However, from the perspective of technology, the developed countries still have obvious advantage to China. As China lacks key technologies of this industry, China’s equipment manufacturing products have been in the low-end value chain for a long time which made China’s equipment manufacturing industry big but not strong. At the same time, China’s equipment manufacturing industry also faced problems of rising production costs, rapid growing high-end demand and weak innovation ability. To improve technology of China’s equipment manufacturing industry and narrow the technology gap to developed countries, more expenditure should be put on both technology research and researcher funding. International experience shows that, expansion of enterprise cooperative innovation partners is helpful to make up the lack of innovation resources as well as reduce the management risk brought by technology development. Through cooperating with partners, firms can get access to complementary innovation resources and Make up for the inadequacy of internal innovation resources which results transformation of innovation ways.Large-scale firms are always considered to have abundant capital, human resource, equipment, information resource etc., and also have better conditions to engage in technology development independently as well as having obvious market advantage. However, they prefer to maintain the present status and have less willing to carry out technological innovation of high risk. On the opposite side, these SMEs don’t have much innovation resources like large-scale firms including capital, researchers, well-conditioned equipment. Yet they are very willing to improve the situation through innovation. Compared to large-scale firms, these SMEs tend to work with innovation partners to solve problems above.Although large-scale firms have evident advantage to SMEs in seeking innovation partners, undoubtable these SMEs have great achievements in this part in both developed countries and developing countries. How extend the enterprise scale influence cooperative innovation? What’s the preference difference between different scale firms selecting innovation partner? Are they seeking partners along the value chain, in similar firms or in different research institutions? How on earth government’s policies and behaviors influence different scale firms on choosing partners? These are questions to be studied and considered.This paper mainly discusses the following two questions:first, what’s China’s equipment manufacturing enterprise cooperative innovation partner selection status, and what’s the influence factor? Second, what’s the difference between different scale firms seeking innovation partners, and what is the cause of the difference? The full text is divided into six chapters:the first chapter introduces research background and significance of Chinese equipment manufacturing enterprise cooperative innovation partner selection; the second chapter examined the resource-based theory, industrial cluster theory, enterprise innovation network theory and other related equipment industrial enterprise innovation network theory. The third chapter analyzes the different factors that influence the scale of enterprise cooperative innovation partner selection by establishing the relationship between enterprise scale and the cooperative innovation partner selection model. Using the Logit model, the fourth chapter studied the15th China international industry fair with249questionnaire samples data, and analyzed influencing factor of different scale equipment manufacturing enterprise cooperative innovation partner selection. Chapter V has taken empirical analysis of Xiamen mansion work machinery co., LTD., and small businesses Shandong Dongying:oil equipment co., LTD., the Chapter VI is for the conclusion of the paper, and prospect.This article main conclusion:China’s equipment manufacturing enterprise cooperative innovation is given priority to with vertical cooperation. According to article, compared to small businesses, large enterprises cooperate more with research institutions, however, small enterprises cooperation with customers and suppliers more frequently. Small companies are willing to collaborating with the outside organizations, however, limited to its scale and economic strength and relationship building as a process of two-way choice, the small enterprises and research institutions of cooperation are often in one certain field, even with one institution or researcher. Yet large enterprises cooperate with research institutions more comprehensive, depth and breadth than small businesses. Cooperation with the same industry enterprises, enterprises of different size in proportion doesn’t make large difference, but the partner’s location is different. Large enterprises seek foreign cooperative innovation partners actively, and small enterprises select partners always in the home country. The Chinese government influences more than developed countries in enterprise cooperative innovation, and the Chinese government prefer large enterprises.