Technological innovation capabilities, product strategy, and firm performance: The electronics industry in China

• Author: Juan Shan,Dominique R. Jolly
• Published date: 01 September 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1256
• Date: 01 September 2013

Technological innovation capabilities, product

strategy, and firm performance: The electronics

industry in China*

Juan Shan**

Shanghai University

Dominique R. Jolly

SKEMA Business School, China Europe International

Business School

Abstract

This research was conducted with a sample of 215 Chinese

companies from the electronics industry. It shows that the

different technological innovation capabilities have a

positive impact on product innovation, beginning with the

linkage capability, and then moving to the production

capability, and ending with the investment capability. The

research also shows that product innovation has a mediat-

ing effect on the relationship between different technological

innovation capabilities and f‌irm performance. Copyright ©

2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

JEL Classif‌ications: O32, L63, L25

Keywords: emerging country, China, technology strategy,

technological catch-up, technological innovation capabilities

Résumé

La recherche a été conduite sur un échantillon de 215

entreprises chinoises de l’électronique. Elle montre que les

différentes capacités d’innovation technologique ont un

impact positif direct sur l’innovation produit,en commençant

par la capacité de réseautage,puis la capacité de production

etf‌inalement la capacité d’investissement. Elle montre

également que l’innovation produit joue un rôle médiateur

entre les différentes capacités d’innovation technologique et

la performance de l’entreprise. Copyright © 2013 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : pays émergent, Chine, stratégie technologique,

rattrapage technologique, capacités d’innovation

technologique

With an immersion in innovation, China is currently at a

turning point in its history. In what has up until now been an

ocean of low technology, islets of high-technology are

emerging. What are Chinese companies doing to catch up?

What technology-related strategies are being adopted by

these companies that have allowed them to compete with

foreign high-tech ventures? Is the existing literature on the

process of closing gaps applicable to these Chinese compa-

nies? Our study tries to contribute to these new emerging

issues and in particular targets the relationships between the

capability for technological innovation, product innovation,

and f‌irm performance. We apply concepts from existing

literature on innovation to a new context, that of Chinese

companies, and to our knowledge is the f‌irst to do so. We

aim to ascertain the applicability of these hypotheses in a

context where the rules of engagement may be different. It

is possible, for example, to question the effect of external

networks of known signif‌icance in China (Amber, 1995;

Farh, Tsui, Xin, & Cheng, 1998; Park & Luo, 2001) or the

possible differences between whether a company is publicly

or privately held—a legal format revived in China after less

than 30 years. In addition, we focus on the mediating effect

of product innovation.

The study uses original data and is the f‌irst empirical study

conducted in China that makes use of an analytical decompo-

sition of technological innovation capability (hereinafter,

TIC), detailed, as we shall see below, into three components

(capability for investment, capability for production innova-

tion, and capability for innovation associated with networks).

Building TICtakes on a very particular meaningin the context

of a country engaged in closing a technology gap (Guo & Guo,

This research is supported by Innovative Program of Shanghai Municipal

Education Commission (12YS007) and Shanghai Pujiang Program

(12PJC012).

*

This manuscript was submitted and reviewed in French and translated after

acceptance. The French version is available online at Wiley Online Library.

**Please address correspondence to: Juan Shan, School of Management,

Shanghai University, 99, Shangda Road, 200444, Shanghai, China. Email:

shanjuan@shu.edu.cn

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

30: 159–172 (2013)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1256

Can J Adm Sci

30(3), 159–172 (2013)Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 159