Title: Can cooperative networks promote enterprise innovation in China?

Authors: Xiaoli Wang; Ye Yang; Yi Tan

Addresses: Marist College, 3399 North Road, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, USA ' Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, 777 Guoding Road, Shanghai, 200433, China ' Shanghai Jiaotong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China

Abstract: Based on the institutional background of China's economic development and transformation, in this paper, we investigate whether cooperative networks promote enterprise innovation in China using the World Bank's 2012 survey data on Chinese companies' operations. We found that: 1) the diversity of cooperative networks significantly increased the enterprises' probability of carrying out innovative activities; 2) different cooperation networks have different impacts on corporate innovation: i.e., both 'enterprise-customer' corporative network and the 'enterprise-research organisation' corporative networks have significantly increased the probability of enterprise innovation, but the 'enterprise-supplier' network has hindered the corporate's process innovation; 3) after considering the characteristics of corporate heterogeneity, the cooperation network will benefit high-tech enterprises more than for the low- and medium-tech enterprises in China. Our research contributes to the literature by providing significant insights for the companies to understand their innovation mechanism and also offering meaningful enlightenments for relevant policy-making departments.

Keywords: corporative network; enterprise innovation; innovative value chain; network diversity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2020.106530

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2020 Vol.19 No.3, pp.290 - 312

Received: 23 Jan 2019
Accepted: 20 Jun 2019
Published online: 09 Apr 2020 *

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