Knowledge Spillovers, Absorptive Capacity And Innovation Performance

In China's Pearl River Delta and other coast regions,manufacturing enterprises engaging in the division of labor on the global value chain,typically take the form of OEM/ODM.With the development of a knowledge economy and China's economic integration into the global market,knowledge spillover and learning behavior have great impact on China's manufacturing enterprises in terms of technological innovation.Hence,the aspects that will be investigated in this paper are as follows:First of all,on the basis of literature review,this paper will theoretically analyze the process of knowledge spillover on the global value chain,and propose a conceptual model used to study the relationships between knowledge spillover,absorptive capacity and innovation performance.In this model,knowledge spillover brought by OEM/ODM involves the spillover of explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge;the absorptive capacity includes four structural dimensions,i.e.,manufacturing enterprises' R&D capital,human capital,social capital and knowledge management. Knowledge spillover can promote a manufacturing enterprise's innovation performance,in which the promotion effect is influenced by the enterprise's absorptive capacity.In other words,knowledge spillover's promotion effect on innovation performance can be amplified through enterprises' absorptive capacity. Furthermore,the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is determined by external environment,factors including the type of the value chain,intellectual property protection and financing environment,etc.Based on the theoretical analysis,this paper will put forward relevant hypotheses,construct econometric models,and frame variables into a questionnaire.Secondly,this paper will conduct positive research on the above issues,in the light of the survey data collected from four major cities(Dongguan,Foshan,Zhongshan, and Huizhou) in the Pearl River Delta.And empirical results show that:multinational companies' knowledge spillover(especially for tacit knowledge spillover) improves innovation performance of the OEM/ODM;OEM/ODM's absorptive capacity not only can exert direct influence on promoting innovation performance,but also positively plays a moderating role in knowledge spillover's impact on innovation performance,that is,absorptive capacity can remarkably strengthen knowledge spillover's power of improving innovation performance.According to the structural dimensions of absorptive capacity,science & technology expenditure and human capital can significantly enhance explicit-knowledge spillover's promotion effect on innovation performance,while social capital and knowledge management can significantly improve tacit-knowledge spillover's contribution to the same regard.In a producer-driven value chain,the tacit-knowledge spillover is more important for improving OEM/ODM's innovation performance;in a buyer-driven value chain,the explicit-knowledge spillover plays a more critical role.Compared with the absorptive capacity's moderating effect in the buyer-driven value chain,the moderating effect is more significant in the producer-driven value chain.In an economic environment with easy and quick access to financing service,the absorptive capacity's moderating effect is relatively more significant.Finally,this paper will make policy recommendations and suggest future directions in the further research.