The Strategy Response Behavior Under The Institutional Pressure Of Transformation And Upgrading

Since the opening up thirty years ago, China manufacturing has been booming with the advantage of production factors such as low-cost labor. But as China’s economy steps into the "new normal" phase, the market environment and the government institutional arrangements have occurred significant changes. On the one hand, labor costs rise, the global economic is in recession, and the drawbacks of the original extensive management has gradually highlighted, such as low level of technology, lack of core competitiveness, in the low end of the value chain, and so on. On the other hand, governments at all levels have actively launched a series of the induced industrial policy about transformation and upgrading, including financial support, supporting facilities, etc.. However, the emergence of the institutional pressures about transformation and upgrading did not as good as expecte, the manufacturing enterprises are not positive response, but showed a greater difference. Therefore, this paper deeply explores the mechanism between Institutional pressure of transformation and upgrading and the strategic response behavior of enterprises, and seeks the reasons for the differences strategic response behavior of enterprises.Based on literature researching on institutional theory, resource theory and management cognition, the author do the logical deduction between the structure and propose a preliminary research framework. Then we conduct corporate interviews, and finally choose knitwear enterprises in Dalang Town of Dongguang as the research object of this paper. Through analysis and discussion of multi-case, the author obtains the final theoretical model and the main conclusion of this paper, just as follow:(1) There is a significantly positive correlation between the intensity of institutional pressure of transformation and upgrading and the intensity of the enterprise’s response motivation. (2) There is a significantly positive correlation between resource flexibility of enterprise and the strategic response capability. (3) Management cognition plays a regulatory role in the process of strategic response.It effects not only the relationship between institutional pressure of transformation and upgrading and the enterprise’s response motivation, but also the relationship between resource flexibility of enterprise and the strategic response capability. (4) Strategic response behavior of enterprises is determined by the response motivation and response capacity, and specifically divides into four patterns:the first mover, follower, compromiser and defender.This paper not only combines the traditional institutional perspective and resource-based view, but also innovatively apply the management cognitive perspective, to open the function mechanism between the Institutional pressure of transformation and upgrading and the strategic response behavior of enterprises. This will not only filling the absence of the existing studies of enterprise strategic response behavior, but also develops and expands the existing studies about institutional pressures and the strategic response behavior of enterprises. In addition, this paper has also deepened the research on enterprise strategic response behavior which based on Oliver’s research, and helps the government to make strategic decisions and gives the practical guiding for the government to make institutional arrangements.