The Impact Of Digital Mergers And Acquisitions On The Corporate Innovation Quality

In recent years,the emerging digital technology has been deeply integrated with the real economy,and the thinking of "Internet plus+" and "digitalization" has permeated all walks of life.The digital economy has gradually become an important force for global enterprises to achieve innovation and shape competitive advantages.The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizes that innovation plays a central role in China’s modernization drive,and regards"accelerating the development of the digital economy" as one of the important contents of "building a modern industrial system".Undoubtedly,the current development momentum of China’s digital economy continues to be strong,with a large number of new formats and models emerging.The increasing demand for digital products and services in the market has led to a boom in investment in the digital economy.Then digital mergers and acquisitions are rapidly heating up nationwide.On the other hand,many Chinese enterprises still face problems such as high costs,insufficient capabilities,and a long "pain period" in the actual digital transformation process,making it difficult to achieve good transformation results.This also forces companies to turn their attention to the outside of the enterprise and acquire digital enterprises that align with their own digital transformation strategy.Digital mergers and acquisitions mainly focus on digital technology and services,which are different from traditional mergers and acquisitions.Therefore,whether digital M&A can effectively improve the innovation quality of enterprises is an important issue worthy of attention.Based on this,the article firstly combines existing theories and literature to discuss how digital mergers and acquisitions affect the quality of enterprise innovation,and theoretically analyzes its transmission mechanism and spillover effects.Subsequently,this article takes the period from 2010 to 2021 as the research period,selects A-share listed companies in China as the research object,and empirically tests the impact of digital mergers and acquisitions on the quality of enterprise innovation under the framework of difference-in-differences model.Research findings:Firstly,digital mergers and acquisitions can significantly improve the quality of enterprise innovation.Secondly,digital mergers and acquisitions mainly play a role through three channels:digital transformation,management efficiency,and technology absorption capacity.Digital transformation is the main transmission mechanism for digital mergers and acquisitions to help enterprises improve innovation quality.Thirdly,the impact of digital mergers and acquisitions on the quality of enterprise innovation presents heterogeneity.Among enterprises located at both ends of the cutting-edge technology gap and in areas with high intellectual property protection,digital mergers and acquisitions have a more prominent role in promoting the quality of enterprise innovation.In addition,cross-border digital mergers and acquisitions are generally superior to domestic digital mergers and acquisitions.Finally,customer digital mergers and acquisitions have a supply chain spillover effect,significantly improving the quality of supplier enterprise innovation.The research content of this article indicates that digital mergers and acquisitions play an important role in improving the innovation quality of Chinese enterprises.Therefore,enterprises should actively search for suitable digital targets,strengthen digital mergers and acquisitions,and make good use of upstream and downstream relationships in the supply chain to better achieve digital transformation and innovation and upgrading.The government and relevant departments should also attach importance to digital mergers and acquisitions,establish good external conditions and a loose policy environment,support and guide traditional enterprises to achieve better transformation and development through digital mergers and acquisitions,encourage communication and cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain,and effectively play the positive role of digital mergers and acquisitions in promoting high-quality economic development.