The Impact Of Knowledge Recombination On The Breakthrough Innovation Of Multinational Enterprises

The "Belt and Road" initiative’s execution has gradually sped up the rate at which Chinese enterprises are going global in the context of economic globalization.Chinese enterprises now have new opportunities to operate and develop internationally given to the two domestic and international markets as well as two resources.In the era of the knowledge economy,as the most important strategic resource,the acquisition and use of knowledge elements become one of the key factors for multinational enterprises to achieve innovative development and technological catch-up.In order to adapt to the rapidly changing international market environment and acquire and maintain competitive advantages,multinational enterprises must constantly adjust and change their knowledge base to achieve new technological breakthroughs.However,the various difficulties faced by MNEs in the process of knowledge base adjustment and change as well as the resulting innovation effects are uncertain,which makes this topic gradually become a hot spot worthy of further research in the field of knowledge management and innovation management.Scholars have found that in the early stage of growth,enterprises mostly acquire market value through "imitative innovation",using the introduction,digestion,absorption and reuse of advanced technological knowledge from developed economies.Although to a certain extent,"imitative innovation" reduces the risks and costs of technological R&D and innovation,in the long run,it is difficult for enterprises to move up the industrial and value chains and form their own core competitiveness.In contrast,breakthrough innovation which aims to create new products,processes or services,is considered to be the core driver of economic growth.On the one hand,knowledge recombination can realize the extensive search for internal and external knowledge,gather different types of knowledge elements and integrate them with existing knowledge,which provides the basis for breakthrough innovation;on the other hand,knowledge recombination can eliminate the barriers in technical fields and integrate knowledge from different fields,which makes the innovation behavior achieve benefit maximization.Thus,how to enhance knowledge reorganization ability is a key factor for enterprises to realize breakthrough innovation.In addition,the external environment is a requirement for an organization’s innovative behavior,and the environment’s dynamic nature somewhat reflects an organization’s external influence in the R&D process of breakthrough innovation.Compared with developed countries,multinational enterprises in emerging economy countries have inherent drawbacks in the process of innovation development: inadequate external systems,the constant introduction of new policies,and lack of necessary corporate knowledge management capabilities,etc.These difficulties make it more challenging for enterprises in developing countries to invest abroad in the process of innovation activities.Based on the gaps in existing research,this paper takes multinational enterprises in China,the world’s largest emerging economy,as the research object,and analyzes the enhancement path of breakthrough innovation in multinational enterprises from the perspective of knowledge recombination,a dynamism change in the knowledge base,dissects how environmental dynamics affect the relationship between the two,provides a theoretical basis for managers of enterprises in developing countries to make knowledge restructuring decisions in a dynamic external environment,and further enriches the innovation outcomes of enterprises.This paper selects Chinese manufacturing multinational enterprises as the research sample from 2010 to 2018,collects data from 220 enterprises,divides knowledge recombination into two dimensions of knowledge recombination creation and knowledge recombination reuse,and the moderating variable is environmental dynamics and constructs a panel data model for regression analysis.Specifically,this paper aims to investigate the following issues:(1)the influence mechanisms of different types of knowledge recombination behaviors on multinational enterprises’ breakthrough innovation;(2)the moderating effect of environmental dynamics on the relationship between knowledge recombination behaviors and multinational enterprises’ breakthrough innovation.The empirical results show that(1)knowledge recombination creation has a significant promoting effect on MNEs’ breakthrough innovation,i.e.,as the level of recombination creation increases,the effect of MNEs’ breakthrough innovation also increases;knowledge recombination reuse has a significant inhibiting effect on MNEs’ breakthrough innovation,i.e.,as the recombination reuse behavior increases,the effect of MNEs’ breakthrough innovation also decreases.(2)Environmental dynamics has a significant moderating effect on knowledge recombination and MNE breakthrough innovation,and the specific moderating effect depends on different types of knowledge recombination behaviors.Environmental dynamics positively regulates the relationship between knowledge recombination creation and MNE breakthrough innovation and negatively regulates the relationship between knowledge recombination reuse and MNE breakthrough innovation.The results of this study help to raise managers’ attention to enterprise knowledge management issues,promote the improvement of their knowledge recombination ability,make full use of existing knowledge elements as well as tap new knowledge values while considering the impact of dynamic changes in the environment in enterprise innovation.The specific management implications are as follows: firstly,we discuss how the knowledge recombination behavior of multinational enterprises affects breakthrough innovation from the perspective of dynamic changes in the knowledge base,enrich and expand the theory of the relationship between knowledge recombination ability and breakthrough innovation,and provide new valuable ideas for studying the issues related to breakthrough innovation of multinational enterprises;second,we analyze its influence on the relationship between knowledge recombination and breakthrough innovation of multinational enterprises from the perspective of environmental dynamics.The second is to analyze the regulating role between knowledge recombination and multinational enterprises’ breakthrough innovation from the perspective of environmental dynamics.Facing the huge challenges brought by the continuous spread of the new crown epidemic and the unpredictable international market environment to the multinational business,multinational enterprises need managers to consciously cultivate sensitivity to innovation opportunities,capture useful information in the fast-changing international market environment,make comprehensive use of internal and external resources and information,and seize new opportunities in the dynamic environment,to occupy a place in the international market.