摘要
知识距离作为制度距离一个新近被关注的维度,是影响企业海外并购区位选择的重要因素之一,尤其是对于试图通过海外并购获取战略性资产以提升创新能力的中国企业而言。但已有研究却并未就知识距离与企业海外并购创新绩效的关系达成一致结论。基于知识距离的产生源头—国家制度中的国家创新系统这一视角,结合中国企业实践的新特征,采用制度理论视角,以2008—2017年中国A股上市制造企业为样本,使用PSM-DID的方法进行实证分析,结果发现国家间知识距离对并购企业的创新绩效产生显著负向影响。进一步地,考察了企业技术知识结构(即技术多元化和技术专业化程度)和知识存量(即吸收能力)对该关系的调节作用,结果显示并购企业的技术多元化程度会加深该负向影响,而其技术专业化程度和吸收能力则能减弱该影响。同时,知识距离与并购企业创新绩效的关系在不同所有制的企业内存在异质性:相对于非国有企业而言,知识距离对国有企业创新绩效的负向影响更强。
Numerous Chinese enterprises have"gone out"to carry out international mergers and acquisitions(M&As)in the past decades,trying to acquire strategic assets such as technical knowledge of the host country and target firms,to rapidly improve their innovation performance and international competitiveness.Prior research reveals the critical impact of location choices in this process,and extensively sheds light on the influence of knowledge distance between the home country and the host country on acquiring firms'innovation performance.However,inconsistent conclusions exist.From the perspective of institutional theory,some scholars argue that knowledge distance will make acquiring firms face greater liability of foreignness and difficulties in knowledge transfer and integration,which is not conducive to the improvement of their innovation performance after international M&As.Other scholars,based on the springboard theory,suggest that the greater the knowledge distance,the more opportunities for the acquiring firm to explore new knowledge and realize reverse knowledge transfer,and thus the more they can promote innovation performance after M&As.In response to the inconsistent conclusions,this paper suggests that scholars should return to the theoretical basis of the concept of knowledge distance itself-the national innovation system theory that focuses on one specific dimension of the national institutions,and combine with the current situation that the international M&A practices of Chinese multinationals have gradually shown similar characteristics to that of multinational enterprises in developed countries,and choose the institutional theory rather than the springboard theory to discuss the impact of knowledge distance in Chinese multinationals'international M&As.Meanwhile,prior literature also pointed out that when exploring the impact of institutions such as the national innovation system,other theoretical perspectives should also be combined to explain the outcomes of multinationals'international strategy more robustly.The knowledge-based view(KBV)is the most widely used theory.Based on the KBV,the impacts of the characteristics of acquiring firms'technological knowledge,especially the technical knowledge stock,are frequently concerned.However,few studies have focused on the impact of acquiring firms'technological knowledge structure(i.e.,technological diversification and technological specialization).In addition,the current complex institutional environment also makes the impact of state-owned enterprise identity more prominent.The article also explores the impact of acquiring firms'ownership on the relationship between knowledge distance and innovation performance.To explore the above research questions,this research adopts the institutional theory perspective and takes China's A-share listed manufacturing enterprises from 2008 to 2017 as samples and uses the method of PSM-DID to conduct empirical analysis.It finds that knowledge distance has a significant negative impact on the innovation performance of Chinese acquirers.Furthermore,the results show that the degree of technological diversification of the acquirer will deepen the negative impact,while the degree of technological specialization and absorptive capacity can weaken the impact.At the same time,the relationship between knowledge distance and acquirers'innovation performance is heterogeneous among firms with different ownership,namely,compared with non-state-owned firms,knowledge distance has a stronger negative impact on the innovation performance of state-owned firms.Based on the above conclusions,this paper makes two core contributions.Firstly,this paper responds to the call for the deconstruction of institutional distance in international business research,focusing on the impact of the specific dimension of knowledge distance on the post-merger innovation performance of acquiring firms.By tracing the source of knowledge distance-the national innovation system,it focuses on the impact of institutional differences between countries in improving innovation and creating knowledge on the knowledge transfer and integration of acquiring firms,responding to the current research on the relationship between knowledge distance and acquiring firms'innovation performance.Secondly,by focusing on the role of acquiring firms'technical knowledge structure,absorptive capacity,and ownership,this paper aims to deepen and supplement the KBV in the context of international M&As and provide important enlightenment for emerging economy multinationals to realize the matching of their technical knowledge characteristics and international M&A location decisions.
作者
胡潇婷
吕文晶
李纪珍
HU Xiaoting;LYU Wenjing;LI Jizhen(School of Economics and Management,Beijing Information Science and Technology University,Beijing 100192,China;MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy,MIT Sloan School of Management,Cambridge MA 02139,USA;School of Economics and Management,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China)
出处
《科学学与科学技术管理》
CSSCI
CSCD
北大核心
2024年第2期132-151,共20页
Science of Science and Management of S.& T.
基金
北京市教委科研计划科技一般项目(KM202311232007)
北京市社会科学基金项目(22JCC098)。
关键词
知识距离
海外并购
创新绩效
国家创新系统
技术知识结构
knowledge distance
international M&As
innovation performance
national innovation systems
technological knowledge structure
