进口竞争、动态能力与企业创新持续性

Import Competition, Dynamic Capabilities, and Corporate Sustainable Innovation

摘要: 在持续扩大对外开放背景下，中国的进口贸易自由化不断加深，探讨进口竞争对企业创新活动的影响，尤其是持续性创新能力，对实现企业高质量发展具有重要意义。本文以2008~2020年A股上市公司为研究样本，通过匹配上市公司财务数据、专利数据以及进口关税等数据，探讨了进口竞争对企业创新投入持续性与创新产出持续性的非线性关系，并从企业动态能力角度解释作用机制。研究发现：1) 进口竞争对企业创新持续性呈现“倒U型”的非线性关系。2) 进口竞争可以通过影响技术吸引能力、资源整合能力、组织变革能力等三维动态能力作用于企业的创新持续性。3) 异质性分析表明，处于高科技行业、具有更低的融资约束及更高的研发能力的企业，进口竞争促进持续创新的积极效应更为明显。本文结论为企业面临进口竞争如何促进并维持创新提供了有益的理论启示，同时对进一步扩大市场开放、平滑企业创新波动提供了经验证据。

Abstract: In the context of continuously expanding external openness, China’s import trade liberalization is deepening. Discussing the impact of import competition on corporate innovation activities, especially the ability for sustained innovation, is of great significance for achieving high-quality development of enterprises. This paper takes the A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020 as the research sample, and explores the nonlinear relationship between import competition and the sustainability of corporate innovation input and output by matching financial data of listed companies, patent data, and import tariff data. It also explains the mechanism from the perspective of corporate dynamic capabilities. The study finds that: 1) There is an “inverted U-shaped” nonlinear relationship between import competition and the sustainability of corporate innovation. 2) Import competition can affect the sustainability of corporate innovation through influencing three-dimensional dynamic capabilities such as technological attractiveness, resource integration ability, and organizational change ability. 3) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that enterprises in high-tech industries, with lower financing constraints and higher R&D capabilities, show a more significant positive effect of import competition in promoting sustained innovation. The conclusions of this paper provide valuable theoretical insights for how enterprises can promote and maintain innovation in the face of import competition, and also provide empirical evidence for further expanding market openness and smoothing corporate innovation fluctuations.