The Influences On China’s Independent Innovation Capacity From OFDI’s Reverse Technology Spillovers

With the development of economic globalization, the economic links betweenChina and the rest of the world is becoming increasingly close. In recent years, moreand more Chinese enterprises go outward to invest in foreign countries. In2009,China’s outward foreign direct investment flows ranked as the fifth of the world.Foreign scholars’ studies on developed countries and newly industrialized countriesfound that outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), as an important channel ofinternational technology spillovers, can increase the technological innovationcapabilities of home country. Then what’s the impact of China’s OFDI adversespillovers on domestic innovation capacity? What’s the mechanisms of such impact?What’s the impact difference of China’s OFDI in different countries? What are thethreshold level of domestic factors that affecting China’s OFDI reverse spilloverseffect on domestic innovation capacity? This study mainly research on these fouraspects.On the basis of reviewing OFDI reverse technology spillover theory and sortingout former studies of OFDI reverse spillovers’ impact on domestic independentinnovation capacity, this paper analysed the mechanisms of OFDI reverse spillovers’impact on domestic independent innovation capacity and the main domestic factorswhich affect the OFDI reverse innovation spillovers. Based on the above theoreticalanalysis, this paper used provincial panel data, empirically tested China’s OFDIadverse spillovers’ impact on domestic independent innovation capacity, then usedcluster analysis method to study the contribution of different China’s OFDI flows’sdirection to domestic independent innovation capacity, and at last, calculated thethreshold level of domestic factors affecting China’s OFDI reverse spillovers effect.The empirical results showed that, OFDI had a positive effect on China’s independentinnovation capacity, but by dividing the whole country into the east，middle and westto test respectively，it was found that the effect is only positive in the east; China’soutward investment in developed countries had a much more positive influence onimproving domestic independent innovation capacity; the majority of Chineseprovinces had successfully crossed the threshold level of economic development, butR&D intensity, human capital level, financial development and the development ofhigh-tech industries still constrained China’s OFDI reverse spillover effect on domestic innovation capacity. Based on the above analysis, this paper finally putforward some proposals both in micro-enterprises and macro-government aspects.