“走出去”能否“反哺桑梓”：跨境研发与母国企业自主创新能力

Does cross-border R&D improve the independent innovation capability of Chinese enterprise?

发布时间：2022-10-24 浏览次数：75

01 研究背景

如何提高中国企业的自主创新能力，一直是国内创新领域的一个研究热点。长期以来，中国企业创新能力的提高主要依靠国内自主或合作研发。然而，受限于技术储备和人才瓶颈，再加上外资对核心技术的封锁，业界逐渐意识到在全球化背景下，单纯依靠内部研发或国内合作对提升创新能力、实现技术赶超的作用有限。近年来，“走出去”、“一带一路”等对外投资战略和举措，不仅为中国企业开展跨境研发提供了良好的政策环境，也促使企业认识到全球研发布局的战略意义。在中国企业提高自主创新能力迫在眉睫的当下，跨境研发将成为企业未来创新发展的新常态。

02 理论基础

根据投资诱发要素组合理论，东道国或地区的技术知识和市场潜力是跨境研发的两个直接诱因。跨国企业对隐性技术知识的渴望，催生了企业进行探索性的跨境研发。海外研发机构不仅可以充分利用反向知识溢出获得异质性隐性知识，而且可以突破国外技术封锁，对提高本国企业的自主创新能力具有重要作用。

跨境研发的另一个激励因素是开发当地市场，这导致了以利用为导向的跨境研发。一方面，海外研发机构改进现有技术和产品，以满足当地需求。在这个过程中，企业积累了丰富的研发经验，提高了母国企业的渐进创新能力。跨境研发过程中的创新理念也会被母国企业的研发团队所利用。另一方面，当母国企业的现有技术能力不能满足东道国市场的需求时，海外机构也会寻求技术突破，这将有助于跨国企业积累颠覆性的创新能力。

然而，根据交易成本理论，当跨境研发的规模和地域分布不断扩大时，很可能会产生各类成本。一是母公司为保护海外研发成果而带来的监督和控制成本；二是知识超载带来的搜索和整合成本；三是地域分布日益分散带来的协调和沟通成本；四是与海外实体合作所带来的信息搜索、价格谈判、监督和违约成本。

03 研究设计

基于2007年至2014年中国1242家高科技上市公司的非平衡面板数据，本文首先使用负二项回归模型来估计跨境研发与自主创新能力之间的关系。通过构建跨境研发及其规模强度和地域广度三个变量，检验主效应模型。其次，本文选择高管的海外背景和任期来检验个人层面因素的调节作用。最后，本文利用中介效应模型来检验跨境研发作用背后的内部机制。

04 研究结论

首先，跨境研发可以显著提高母国企业的自主创新能力，跨境研发的规模强度和地域广度与创新能力之间存在边际效应递减的正向关系。其次，高管的海外经验和高管的任期有显著的调节作用。具体而言，当高管的海外经历与研发地点相匹配时，跨境研发对自主创新能力的正向影响更强；高管的任期越长，跨境研发对自主创新能力的正向影响越弱。第三，研究证实，在获取异质性技术知识和满足当地市场需求过程中所积累的研发经验是跨境研发提升母国企业自主创新能力的内部机制。

05 理论贡献

首先，本研究从理论上解释了跨境研发与母国企业自主创新能力的关系及其内在机制，为鼓励中国企业跨境研发提供了经验证据。在此基础上，本研究探讨了跨境研发规模强度和地域广度对母国企业创新能力的影响，从理论上揭开了跨境研发强度和广度与创新绩效之间的黑箱。

其次，本研究以高阶梯队理论为基础，选取高管的海外经历和任期，实证检验了高管特征对跨境研发与创新绩效关系的调节作用。研究结果揭示了管理者的背景特征在跨境研发实践中的重要性，丰富了跨境研发绩效影响因素的理论成果。

06 实践价值

本研究的实践价值体现在以下三个方面：第一，本研究为倡导中国企业的跨境研发提供了更可靠的证据；第二，本研究为已经开展跨境研发的中国企业如何进一步部署全球研发网络提供了管理启示；第三，本研究为开展跨境研发的中国企业选择合适的管理者提供了参考。

Abstract How to improve independent innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises has always been a hot topic in the field of innovation research in China. For a long time, the improvement of Chinese enterprises’ innovation capabilities mainly relies on inde- pendent R&D or cooperative R&D in China. However, due to the lack of advanced technologies and high-end talents, coupled with the blockade of core technologies by foreign capital, managers gradually realize that against the background of globalization, relying solely on internal R&D or domestic cooperation has limited effect in enhancing innovation capabilities and achieving technological catch-up. In recent years, foreign investment policies and initiatives such as going global and the Belt and Road Initiative have not only provided a good policy environment for Chinese enterprises’ cross-border R&D, but also prompted enterprises to realize the strategic significance of global R&D layout. At a time when it is urgent for Chinese enterprises to improve their independent innovation capabilities, cross-border R&D will become the new normal for future innovation and development ofenterprises.Whether cross-border R&D can improve independent innovation capabilities of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) is the focus of current academic community. The main features of extant research are as follows. From the perspective of the research con- text, MNEs in developed countries are not only the earliest practitioners of cross-border R&D, but also the main research samples in academic literature. In contrast, the research in developing countries has only started to appear in the last two years. Considering that there is a great inconsistency between developing countries represented by China and developed countries in the fields of economy, technology, system and culture, cross-border R&D by Chinese MNEs need to make a large amount of exploration. From the per- spective of research content, extant research focuses on the relationship between cross-border R&D and innovation performance of MNEs, but does not dig into the underlying impact mechanism. At the same time, it is necessary to deeply analyze the scale and geo- graphic diversity of cross-border R&D and its boundary conditions. In terms of research methods, there is an endogenous relationship between cross-border R&D and innovation capabilities, which need to be mitigated in empirical tests. Empirical tests also need to be applied to the study of impact mechanism.

Based on the above review of extant research, this paper aims to explore the relationship between cross-border R&D and the indepen- dent innovation capabilities of Chinese MNEs, as well as its internal mechanism and boundary conditions. Based on the unbalanced panel data of 1242 high-tech listed enterprises in China from 2007 to 2014, this paper first uses the negative binomial regression model to estimate the relationship between cross-border R&D and independent innovation capabilities. By constructing a dummy variable for cross-border R&D, as well as variables of cross-border R&D scale and breadth, this paper finds that cross-border R&D can significantly improve independent innovation capabilities of Chinese MNEs, and there is a significantly inverted U-shaped rela- tionship between scale/breadth of cross-border R&D and innovation capabilities. However, for the vast majority of sample enterpris- es, the negative effects of cross-border R&D expansion have not yet appeared, and there is still a positive relationship with decreasing marginal effect between cross-border R&D scale/breadth and innovation capabilities. Second, this paper selects overseas background and tenure of the top management team (TMT) that are closely related to the internal mechanism of cross-border R&D. After the em- pirical testing, it is found that when overseas experience of TMT matches R&D locations, the positive effect of cross-border R&D on independent innovation capabilities becomes stronger. The longer the tenure of TMT, the weaker the positive effect of cross-border R&D on independent innovation capabilities. Furthermore, this paper uses the mediating effect model to prove that acquiring het- erogeneous technical knowledge and the R&D experience accumulated in the process of meeting local market demand is the internal mechanism for cross-border R&D to enhance independent innovation capabilities of Chinese MNEs.

The theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows. First, it explains the relationship between cross-border R&D and indepen- dent innovation capabilities of Chinese MNEs based on the knowledge-based view, and verifies the fact that cross-border R&D can improve Chinese enterprises’ independent innovation capabilities with the consideration of endogeneity. This paper also uncovers the theoretical “black box” between scale/breadth of cross-border R&D and innovation performance, and reveals the internal mechanism of cross-border R&D to enhance innovation capabilities for Chinese MNEs from the perspective of cross-border R&D motivation. Second, it examines the moderating effect of TMT characteristics based on the upper echelons theory, which deepens the understand- ing of boundary conditions at the individual level of cross-border R&D, and reveals the important role of TMT characteristics in im- proving cross-border R&D performance.

This paper also has some practical implications for Chinese MNEs. First of all, it provides more reliable evidence for advocating cross-border R&D of Chinese enterprises. Second, it provides suggestions for Chinese MNEs that have already carried out cross-bor- der R&D on how to further deploy their global R&D strategies. Third, it provides references for Chinese MNEs to choose the right managers for cross-border R&D activities.

Key Words Cross-border R&D; Scale; Breadth; Independent Innovation Capabilities; TMT Characteristics

引用：徐晨, 孙元欣.“走出去”能否“反哺桑梓”：跨境研发与母国企业自主创新能力.南开管理评论, 2021, 24(4): 205-218.（该文被中国人民大学复印报刊资料《创新政策与管理》2022年第2期全文转载；获选中国社科院世界经济与政治研究所《世界经济年鉴》“国际投资学2021年最佳中文论文TOP10”）

徐晨，上海应用技术大学经济与管理学院讲师、硕士生导师、博士，主要研究方向为创新管理、国际商务。主持教育部人文社会科学研究青年基金项目。在《Journal of International Management》、《南开管理评论》、《经济评论》、《外国经济与管理》、《研究与发展管理》、《上海经济研究》等刊物发表多篇学术论文。担任《Financial Innovation》、《Nankai Business Review International》、《Environmental Management》匿名审稿人。