The impact of state shares on corporate innovation strategy and performance in China

This paper examines the impact of state shares on corporate innovation strategy and performance in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Through an investigation of 541 publicly traded companies in five high-tech industries during the period between 2000 and 2005, we find that the presence of state shares have a positive effect on the corporate choice of a process innovation strategy over a product innovation one. However, this relationship is moderated by the overall ownership concentration ratio. Moreover, our findings suggest that companies with large state shares prefer to conduct innovations independently rather than collaboratively with others, and they usually achieve better innovation performance. These findings indicate that the government play a role as both an investor and a resource allocation coordinator and therefore complicate the relationship between ownership structure and corporate innovation activities.

Han Zhang (Corresponding author)Email:

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Erming Xu   (PhD, Renmin University of China) is a professor of management at the School of Business in Renmin University of China. His research interests include corporate governance mechanisms and performance in China, state shares with corporate innovation strategy, Asian business strategy in the emerging markets. His work has appeared in premier journals such as Management World, China Industrial Economy, etc. He is editor of Management Review, Nankai Business Review, R&D Management, Chinese Journal of Management, and Economic Management. He serves as the associate chair of the Chinese Academy of Business Management, and also an independent director of China Telecom Corporation Limited. Han Zhang   (PhD, Capital University of Economics and Business) is a lecturer of management at School of Business Management in Capital University of Economics and Business. Her research interests include strategic management and innovation. Her work has appeared in Economic Theory and Business Management and Contemporary Finance & Economics.