Title: Technological innovation and performance of agribusinesses in China

Authors: Qiong Yao; Wenfang Jiang; Meisi Xu

Addresses: Management School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China ' Management School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China ' Management School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

Abstract: Technological innovation is the key for agribusinesses to develop sustainably. This paper studies the relationship between technological innovations, the firm business, and social performances on the basis of the R&D and marketing capabilities of agribusinesses. Subjective self-assessment survey on 279 China agribusinesses was solidly conducted. The collected data were then subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The relationships among R&D, marketing capability, business performance, and social performance are drawn from the analysis. The study shows that the stronger R&D and marketing capabilities boosts the firm business performance, which positively brings into higher firm social performance. This paper contributes to the empirical literature that is especially scant and provides significantly empirical evidence. Besides, this paper provides the practical implications for firms, which includes, giving corresponding priority to the R&D capability, highlighting marketing capability, and strengthening the communication and cooperation between marketing and R&D departments.

Keywords: agribusiness; business performance; marketing capability; R&D capability; social performance; technological innovation; research and development; China; structural equation modeling; SEM; communication; cooperation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2016.076314

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2016 Vol.16 No.2, pp.128 - 148

Received: 08 Apr 2015
Accepted: 02 Aug 2015
Published online: 03 May 2016 *

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