Research On Chinese Latecomer Firms'generative Capability And Its Influencing Mechanism On Innovation Performance

Compared with the firms of Western developed countries,a common feature of Chinese firms is they start late,so most of Chinese enterprises are latecomer firms,facing the dual disadvantages of technology and market.However,even under these disadvantages,a number of Chinese domestic enterprises are able to rise.They have gained competitive advantages in the competitive international market through continuous innovation,and have achieved the catch-up of the first-mover enterprises.The traditional Western strategic theory holds that the competitive advantage of an enterprise comes from its core competence,which is characterized by its value,scarcity,imitability and non-substitutable.However,compared with the Western developed countries,the emerging market enterprises do not possess unique and scarce resources.The existing research has not yet carried on the in-depth explanation to the micro-mechanism of innovation catch-up of emerging market late-comers.Based on interviews with leading Chinese firms,it is found that most of their catching-up are achieved through the process of continuous and effective integration of internal and external knowledge that can promote firms' continuous iterative innovation.Thus,these firms can obtain competitive advantage through multi-generational product innovation.To achieve effective integration of internal and external knowledge,firms need to develop a special capability,which is called as "generative capability".Based on knowledge-based view,this paper conducts an in-depth study around the concept of generative capability,and answers the following questions: First,what is the connotation of generative capability;Second,how to measure generative capability;third,what are the antecedents and consequences of generative capability;Fourthly,how to improve generative capability and innovation performance.For the above purpose,the following research has been carried out:Firstly,based on the interview data of 25 middle and high-level managers in R & D departments of 8 leading Chinese firms,three dimensions of generative capability are identified through open coding,axial coding and selective coding,that is,"knowledge acquisition","knowledge inheritance" and "knowledge updating".The theoretical connotation of the three dimensions are explained in detail.Knowledge acquisition refers to the process through which firms obtain different kinds of knowledge from external sources.Knowledge inheritance refers to routinized organizational processes that facilitate the transfer of knowledge embodied within products across generations.Knowledge updating refers to firms' efforts to continuous test,to reflect and adopt internal and external feedback,and to probe into the future.Secondly,the measurement scale of generative capability is developed using mixed method that combining qualitative and quantitative methods.The construct validity and criterion validity of generative capability are validated using data from 212 Chinese firms.The results show that,among all possible measurement models,the reflective first-order,reflective second-orde measurement models have the best model fit index.At the same time,the validity test shows that the concept of generative capability can be distinguished from the concepts of incremental innovation ability,radical innovation capability,creative imitation etc.,which supports the validity and novelty of this concept.The hypothesis test result shows that generative capability has a significant positive effect on innovation performance,which indicates that this concept has good criterion validity.Thirdly,using samples from 204 IT firms,this paper explores the impact of semistructured innovation process and modular product design on generative capability,and generative capability's influencing mechanism on continuous innovation performance through product development rhythm.The results show that semi-structured innovation process and modular product design can significantly improve generative capability,which can improve the continuous innovation performance through positively influencing the product development rhythm.At the same time,generative capability and product development rhythm have a serial mediation effect between semi-structure/product modularity and continuous innovation performance.Finally,based on the results of empirical research,this paper puts forward the paths to improve generative capability and continuous innovation performance for practical implications.It mainly includes: enhancing the freedom of innovation,strengthening the control of innovation,using the modularized product development strategy,strengthening the knowledge acquisition,inheritance and updating,establishing a good rhythm of product development,etc.These approaches provide decision-making reference and basis for firms to continuously improving innovation performance.This study has the following theoretical contributions.First,this study reveals the micro-mechanism of innovation catch-up through the concept of generative capability,which enriches the theoretical literature in the field of latecomer firms' catching up.At the same time,the research on the concept of generative capability is a further expansion of the "compositional capability" in the composition-based view,and also makes a certain contribution to the development of the indigenous management theory.Secondly,the development of the generative capability scale lays a foundation for the empirical research of generative capability related issues,and opens a new way for the quantitative research in the field of innovation catch-up and other related fields.Finally,the research on the antecedents and consequences of generative capability not only enriches the literature in the field of latecomer catch-up,but also provides a new perspective for the research in the field of modularity and the product introducing strategy literature.