Strategy orientation, innovation capacity endowment, and international R&D intensity of listed companies in China

Abstract

Based on the endogenous factors which can affect the strategy of international R&D of China’s enterprises, an analysis is carried out on the relationship between market-and technology-orientation of the strategy and the intensity of international R&D. In addition, the mediation effects of innovation capacity endowment are discussed. On this basis, 254 listed enterprises with overseas R&D institutions approved by the Ministry of Commerce of China were taken as the sample for survey administration. The poisson regression method was adopted to test the hypotheses. Additionally, we utilized the Bootstrap method to confirm the robustness of the regression models. Results show that for Chinese enterprises with significant international R&D strategy intentions, market orientation has a significant inhibitory effect on their international R&D intensity, while the technology orientation has a significant stimulating effect on international R&D. In addition, innovation capacity has a significant positive impact on the intensity of international R&D, and plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between technology orientation and international R&D. Therefore, to promote international R&D strategies in the era of high-quality economic development, Chinese enterprises are suggested to establish an innovation-oriented strategy orientation to promote innovation cultural heritage, and to strengthen the accumulation of innovative resources and capabilities.