Impact of subsidies on innovations of environmental protection and circular economy in China.

Technological innovations in China's energy conservation and environmental protection industry (EEPI) are capital-intensive and useful to mitigate environmental externality, thus they need policy support and government subsidies (GSs) at the emerging stage. Nevertheless, research is limited on the influence of GSs onto innovation performance of China's EEPI, with particular to the effect of GSs from enterprise level. This study investigated 62 listed energy conservation and environmental protection enterprises (EEPEs) in China's market in 2013-2018. The innovation performance of these enterprises was quantitatively evaluated, and multivariate regression models were devised to examine GSs and other potential drivers that might influence the innovation. Key findings include (1) EEPEs' investment in R&D and protection of intellectual properties played a positive intermediary and regulatory role between GSs and enterprise innovation performance (correlation at the significance level of 0.05 (p = 0.045; p = 0.036)). (2) There is a significant positive correlation at the significance level of 0.05 (p = 0.011), which indicates that the strongest positive relation between GSs and innovation performance was identified in an environment of low external regulation and high internal regulation, and the effects were more significant for non-state-owned EEPEs(correlation at the significance level of 0.05 (p = 0.018)). (3) The promotion of GSs to innovation was found less effective in the three most developed regions in China, i.e., the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area. Nonetheless it was more effective for enterprise engaged in the circular economy and resource recycling (correlation at a significant level of 0.05 (P = 0.048)). These findings may shed lights on decision making of green technology development for environmental conservation and circular economy.

Does financialization inhibit enterprise innovation? Analysis of innovation behavior of Chinese enterprises based on evolutionary game.

Enterprise innovation remains a cornerstone of economic development, with the direct influence of financialization on enterprise innovation standing as a critical factor. In contrast with the existing research, this study constructs an evolutionary game model by utilizing the Cournot model to analyze the innovation behavior of enterprises, and analyzes the influence of financialization on enterprise innovation by incorporating investment returns, market competition, and demand scale into the research framework. In addition, this study selects the sample of the Chinese non-financial listed enterprises and using panel data for the period 2009 to 2021. Based on the findings from the empirical analysis, this study reveals that excessive financialization hinders innovation in Chinese enterprises. Additionally, an intermediary pathway involving 'financialization - investment returns - enterprise innovation' is identified as a transmission mechanism. The demand scale generated by innovation inversely correlates with the inhibitory effects of financialization on enterprise innovation behavior. Meanwhile, heightened market competition amplifies the inhibitory influence of financialization on innovation. This study provided valuable empirical evidence, facilitating the enhancement of enterprise innovation efficiency.

Can antitrust policy promote enterprise innovation? Evidence from Zhongguancun science and Technology Park.

Emerging countries usually rely on the innovation of enterprises within the regional innovation ecosystem to enhance the national innovation level. However, existing literature lacks insight into how antitrust policies might influence innovation within them. We estimate the impact of the implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law on enterprise innovation within Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, China's prominentregional innovation ecosystem. Using a cross-industry difference-in-difference design, we show that greater exposure to competition shock materially boosted enterprise innovation. Antitrust policy promotes enterprise innovation by increasing the R&D investment, human capital, and export. The promotion effect of antitrust is relatively strong in the sample of electronic information industry, firms with low levels of financing constraints, and those that undertake open innovation. Our findings elucidate the nexus between competition and innovation in regional innovation ecosystems and underscore the pivotal role of antitrust policies in the development of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park.

Research on the mechanism of government subsidy on enterprise innovation based on industry-university-research collaboration.

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the relationship between government subsidies, enterprise innovation, and Industry-University-Research (IUR) collaboration. The study begins with a theoretical analysis of the impact of government subsidies on IUR collaboration and enterprise innovation, employing a dynamic game model. Secondly, the research sample comprises A-share listed enterprises in China, and the theoretical findings are validated through empirical methods. Moreover, this study investigates the mediating influence of IUR collaboration and the heterogenous impacts of government subsidies. Research has shown that government subsidies can facilitate enterprises in establishing IUR collaboration, enhancing the extent of IUR collaboration, and effectively stimulating enterprises to participate in innovation. Government subsidies have a more pronounced impact on non-state-owned enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises in eastern regions in terms of incentivization. By enhancing IUR upgrade, government subsidies can offset the shortcomings in limited Research and Experimental Development (R&D) funding and inadequate technical reserves of non-high-technology enterprises. This could result in an improvement in the quality of innovation and the performance of the subsidized enterprises.

Application of artificial intelligence based on the fuzzy control algorithm in enterprise innovation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gained immense popularity in recent years as many enterprises have realized their potential to change the way of conducting business innovatively. The new concepts, items, or procedures are developed and implemented within a business or organization to enhance productivity, effectiveness, and competitiveness, and this is called Enterprise Innovation (EI). AI techniques are required to make decisions more effectively in challenging and dynamic situations, like EI, as result of competitive marketplace. Hence, an intelligent, innovative strategy with Q-learning and Takagi Sugeno Fuzzy Control (Q-TSFC) algorithm has been proposed as it combines adaptive learning and Fuzzy Logic (FL) that humans understand to improve decision-making in enterprise innovation. Q-learning seeks to maximize the enterprise's profit by utilizing the newly acquired knowledge, exploring activities, and adaptive learning based on the optimal ε greedy policy that results with rewards and the experiences. To develop a framework for making decisions and connections between input from the learned Q values and output decisions using enterprise expertise and linguistic conventions. The objective is to handle language uncertainty and imprecision in market trend. So, it leads to right decisions even without accurate numerical facts. The proposed approach is validated by evaluating metrics like cost savings, customer satisfaction, and innovation performance efficiency in the competitive edge in the market. With this proposed Q-TSFC algorithm, the obtained results are 96.5% customer satisfaction ratio, 96% enterprise performance efficiency, cost savings of about 48% profitable value, and the coefficient of determination R2 is 0.83, respectively.

Can board of directors' faultlines improve corporate innovation performance? Evidence from China.

Innovation, which is a pivotal force behind the sustained growth of enterprises, has garnered significant attention across various industries. As the epicenter of corporate decision-making, the board of directors plays a pivotal role in allocating resources and overseeing the execution of strategy. Consequently, it inevitably impacts the innovation capabilities of a business. Previous research has focused primarily on single board member characteristics, such as age, gender, tenure, and educational qualifications, overlooking the cumulative influence of multiple attributes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of faultlines arising from the intersection of these characteristics within a board on innovation performance. Using panel data from China's A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021, this research constructs a framework to analyze board faultlines based on gender, age, education, director tenure, independence status, and occupational background. A comprehensive examination reveals a positive association between board faultlines and innovation performance, indicating that diversity within a board can foster enhanced innovative outputs. These findings persist even after rigorous robustness tests, including two-stage instrumental variable regression using lagged innovation performance as well as when substituting explanatory variables and sample intervals. Further analysis reveals that the influence of board faultlines on innovation performance is significant only under certain contextual conditions: when equity concentration is low, industry competition is intense, and risk aversion is greater. This study offers valuable insights for optimizing board membership configurations and thus, ultimately, enhancing the innovation capabilities of enterprises.

The impact of green credit on economic development quality: the mediating effect of enterprise innovation.

Implementing green credit is a crucial step for nations looking to control social capital flows, improve environmental governance, and foster high-quality economic development in the context of the global low-carbon transition. This study analyzes the effects of green credit policy on high-quality economic development (HQED) from the perspective of enterprise innovation using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces. The data is from the period between 2011 and 2020. We use the benchmark regression and mediation effect models to analyze the relationship between green credit and HQED. The research results show that (1) green credit can directly and significantly raise the HQED. (2) Enterprise innovation mediates the relationship between green credit and HQED. Green credit can promote HQED through enterprise technical innovation, human capital innovation, stock market innovation, and incremental market innovation. (3) The most apparent mediating influence in enterprise innovation is played by human capital innovation. Our research provides policy implications for governments, banks, and enterprises to promote green transformation and achieve simultaneous economic and environmental development.

Research on the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises.

Digital transformation is an important strategic choice for agricultural enterprises to adapt to economic development in the new era. The innovation quality of patents with core technology and high commercial value is significantly higher than that of low-quality patents such as weak patents developed through technological imitation. This study investigates the impact of digital transformation on innovative high-quality development in the context of environmental regulation in agricultural enterprises for the timeframe from 2012 to 2020. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the goal of improving innovation quality can be achieved through digital transformation in agricultural companies. The results show that digital transformation can effectively promote the improvement of innovation quality in companies, and environmental regulation has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between them. "Violating agricultural operation" is a specific appellation for the diversified management of listed agricultural companies, and it is one of the management modes of agricultural enterprises. For listed agricultural companies, the greater the degree of enterprise diversification, the greater the degree of "violating agricultural operation". The influence mechanism test shows that "violating agricultural operation" plays a part in mediating effect in the process of digital transformation promoting innovation quality improvement.

Study on the impact of digital transformation on the innovation potential based on evidence from Chinese listed companies.

Digital transformation has emerged as a powerful force in reshaping the business landscape and enabling organizations to enhance their capabilities. One critical aspect of this change is how it impacts an enterprise's innovation ability. To explore this question, we select data regarding China's A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2021 as the research sample. We employ crawler technology to gather keywords related to "digital transformation" from annual reports, portraying detailed journeys of enterprises' digital transformation. Through descriptive statistics and multiple covariance tests, a linear relationship is established between digital transformation and innovation ability. Benchmark regression is conducted and a robustness test is utilized to determine the robustness of the benchmark regression. The mechanism, heterogeneity, and moderating effects of this study are also tested. The results reveal that digital transformation makes a significant positive contribution to the innovation capability of enterprises. Meanwhile, among different types of enterprises, the impact of digital transformation on enterprise innovation capability shows heterogeneity. In terms of the impact mechanism, digital transformation can enhance the innovation output of enterprises by reducing the agency cost and improving the risk-taking level of enterprises, so as to further improve the innovation capability of enterprises. The research results of this paper provide essential theoretical support for the digital transformation of enterprises and the government's formulation of enterprises' digitalization strategies. More profoundly, it provides significant reference for how to further promote the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises.

Innovation and entrepreneurship of Chinese returning migrant workers in their home region.

This study aims to investigate the influence of pre-entrepreneurial career mobility frequency and job changes among returning migrant workers (RMWs) on the innovation level of enterprises, with a particular focus on the mediating role of urban social capital accumulated by RMWs. Using data from the "current entrepreneurial status of RMWs", we applied an ordered probit model to validate our hypotheses. To address endogeneity, a recursive bivariate probit model was used, and stepwise regression combined with bootstrap methods was employed to ascertain the mediating influence of urban social capital. Our results demonstrate a significant positive correlation (P < 0.01) between pre-entrepreneurial career mobility frequency and the innovation level of enterprises among RMWs. However, there's a notable negative correlation (P < 0.01) between experiences as elementary workers and enterprise innovation level, while technical and marketing roles correlate positively (P < 0.01) with enterprise innovation level. Urban social capital mediates the relationship between career mobility and enterprise innovation level, suggesting that career mobility enhance urban social capital accumulation, influencing RMWs' enterprise innovation levels. This empirical evidence holds even after robustness tests. We further observed that RMWs with fewer than three career moves lean towards low level of enterprise innovation, while those with three or more gravitate towards high level of enterprise innovation. This study advances the theory of career mobility and enriches the understanding of enterprise innovation levels. Additionally, it provides critical theoretical insights for prospective RMWs entrepreneurs in strategizing their career mobility and job changes. Policy implications suggest that, in addition to providing entrepreneurial support, the government should facilitate pre-entrepreneurial career mobility channels for migrant workers and consider the transition from rural to urban employment as a socialized ritual for RMWs engaging in entrepreneurship.

The impact of accounting conservatism on enterprise innovation investment.

This study investigates the influence of accounting conservatism on corporate innovation investment through the lens of information asymmetry theory. While existing literature acknowledges the importance of accounting conservatism in corporate decision-making, there remains a gap in understanding how it specifically affects innovation investment, particularly in varied market environments and regulatory contexts. Specifically, current research often overlooks the heterogeneity of the impact of accounting conservatism on innovation investment under different market environments and regulatory frameworks. Additionally, there is a lack of specialized studies on the unique group of Chinese listed companies. This study fills this gap by empirically analyzing data from Chinese A-share listed companies, revealing a negative correlation between accounting conservatism and corporate innovation investment. Through empirical analysis of the financial reports and research and development (R&D) investment data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2022, this study finds a significant negative correlation between accounting conservatism and corporate innovation investment. Specifically, as accounting conservatism increases, corporate investment in R&D shows a decreasing trend, with a correlation coefficient of -0.364. This result is further validated by hierarchical regression analysis, where the regression coefficient is -0.465, indicating that accounting conservatism has a significant inhibitory effect on corporate innovation investment. This study is pioneering in its examination of the relationship between accounting conservatism and corporate innovation investment within the unique market environment of China, taking into account its distinctive characteristics and rapidly evolving technological industry background. To quantify accounting conservatism, the research employs the C-Score and G-Score models, while employing a range of indicators to measure corporate innovation investment, including proportions of R&D expenditure, number of new products or services, patent applications, total R&D personnel, capital investments, and progress in innovation projects. This comprehensive evaluation method enhances the accuracy and reliability of the study. The contribution of this study is significant as it offers a fresh perspective on how accounting conservatism influences corporate innovation investment. By providing empirical data support, it assists investors and corporate managers in making informed financial decisions and shaping innovation strategies. Through hierarchical regression analysis, the study substantiates the detrimental impact of accounting conservatism on corporate innovation investment, thereby establishing new theoretical and practical foundations for further research and application in related fields.

The impact of the digital economy on Chinese enterprise innovation based on intermediation models with financing constraints.

The digital economy has become an important driving force for the steady development of China's economy, and enterprise innovation is a key element for an enterprise's survival and development. This paper constructs a mathematical model to measure the scale of digital economic development and the efficiency of enterprise innovation. It builds a fixed effects model and mediated effects model to study the effect of the development of the digital economy on enterprise innovation based on data from 30 provinces from 2012 to 2020. The results show that (1) there is a significant positive effect of the digital economy on enterprise innovation with an impact coefficient of 0.028, and the economic meaning of the coefficient is that for every 1-point increase in the digital economy index, the ratio of R&D capital expenditures to the enterprise's operating income increases by 0.028% points. This finding remains significant in the robustness test. (2) A further test of the mediating effect finds that the digital economy can drive enterprise innovation by reducing financing constraints. (3) In the regional heterogeneity analysis, it is found that the effect of the digital economy in promoting enterprise innovation is more prominent in the central region, and the impact coefficients are 0.04, 0.06, 0.025, and 0.024 for the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions, respectively. Taking the central region as an example, the economic meaning of the coefficient is that for every 1-point increase in the digital economy index, the ratio of R&D capital expenditures to the enterprise's operating income increases by 0.06% points. The findings of this paper are of practical significance to enterprises in enhancing their innovation capabilities and promoting the high-quality development of China's economy.

The Impact of Interactive Control in Budget Management on Innovation Performance of Enterprises: From the Perspective of Manager Role Stress.

This study aimed to study the influence of the interactive budget on enterprise innovation performance from the perspective of managerial psychology, and to examine the mediating effect of managers' stress and the moderating effect of environmental turbulence in this influence. The study collected 228 managers' data in the Yangtze River Delta region of China through online questionnaires; the structural equation model is constructed by IBM SPSS Amos 24.0, and the data is analyzed by Mplus 7.4 and IBM SPSS 23.0. The results showed that: (1) an interactive budget positively affects enterprise innovation performance; (2) the role stress of managers plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between an interactive budget and enterprise innovation performance; (3) environmental turbulence positively moderates the relationship between the interactive budget and enterprise innovation performance; and (4) the positive effect of the interactive budget on enterprise innovation performance is more significant in enterprises with a high proportion of female managers, and the negative effect on the role stress of managers is more significant in high-tech enterprises. In theory, the results enrich the research on the impact of an interactive budget on individual managers' psychology, and further reveals the "black box" of the impact of an interactive budget on enterprise innovation performance; in practice, the results make enterprises attach importance to the influence of control environments on the psychological health of managers, and provides a reference for enterprises to use control methods rationally to promote innovation in budget management.

Employee equity incentive, executive psychological capital, and enterprise innovation.

The input and deployment of human resources, such as senior executives and the core employees involved in different innovation processes, is key to developing enterprise innovation activities. Under the same framework, it is crucial to explore how employee equity incentive and senior executives' psychological capital affect enterprise innovation. This paper's research sample comprises listed companies that implemented equity incentives in the A-share market from 2010 to 2021, examining the relationship between executive psychological capital, and enterprise innovation. This study found that: (1) Employee equity incentive and executives' psychological capital can significantly improve the quality of innovation output while promoting enterprises to increase the quantity of innovation outputs; (2) Executive psychological capital contributes to the intermediary effect between employee equity incentive and enterprise innovation; (3) R&D investment has a positive moderating effect on employee equity incentive, senior executives' psychological capital and enterprise innovation; (4) The innovation incentive effect brought by the implementation of stock options by enterprises is more significant, which also makes the psychological capital of executives maintain a positive role in enterprise innovation; (5) In addition, the positive effects of employee equity incentive and executive psychological capital on enterprise innovation are affected by different property rights. The positive effects of employee equity incentive and executive psychological capital on enterprise innovation in state-owned enterprises are not high.

Environmental taxes, enterprise innovation, and environmental total factor productivity-effect test based on Porter's hypothesis.

Under the increasingly severe environmental constraints, improving environmental total factor productivity (ETFP) is the fundamental way for the sustainable development of heavily polluting enterprises. Based on 3463 panel data of A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper employs Porter's hypothesis (PH) framework to explore the impact of environmental tax (EN_T) on enterprise innovation and environmental total factor productivity for the heavily polluting manufacturing industry using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. The empirical results show the following. (i) Environmental taxes positively affect enterprise innovation (EI) and environmental total factor productivity (ETFP). (ii) Mechanism analysis verifies a partial mediating effect for EI between EN_T and ETFP. (iii) Regional heterogeneity analysis illustrates the differences in the impact of environmental taxes on innovation quality. (iv) Individual heterogeneity analysis shows that the "strong Porter hypothesis" is only valid for large-scale enterprises. The results are of great importance for both government and enterprises to improve the EN_T system and optimize the allocation of resources in realistic practice.

Research on wind power industrial policies' functional mechanism to the quality of enterprise innovation.

The transmission effect of industrial policies on the quality of innovation of micro-enterprises is a central concern that attracts current academics and policy makers. Using the 2004-2019 data of A-shares of listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as the policies issued by Chinese ministries and departments at the ministry level and above, this paper empirically investigates the impact and mechanism of industrial policies on the innovation quality of wind power companies. The research results demonstrate that policies all play a significant role in promoting the quality of enterprise innovation of wind power. The intermediary role of credit financing of enterprises between different types of industrial guidelines and the quality of corporate innovation is different. Executive equity incentives positively moderate the relationship between different types of industrial policies and corporate credit financing and effectively weaken the adverse effects of regulatory policies, and it can also significantly enhance the role of policies in promoting the quality of corporate innovation. Finally, this paper gives targeted policy recommendations for the development of new energy industry innovation in China and similar countries and regions from the perspective of government and enterprise.

Why do Chinese enterprises make imitative innovation?-An empirical explanation based on government subsidies.

The previous literature analyzed the widespread imitative innovation of Chinese enterprises from various perspectives, including enterprises' rational choice of cost-gain, property rights system, human capital and policy environment. However, this paper provides a brand-new perspective on government subsidies for the reasons behind the imitative innovation of enterprises. According to the statistics from Chinese enterprise-labor matching, we found that government subsidies stimulated enterprises to make "imitative innovation" through patent purchase rather than independent R&D. Government subsidies were used for low-risk "imitative innovation" because of enterprises' rent-seeking behavior, low R&D ability and the review of government subsidy projects. Based on the above conclusions, this paper suggests that the government should reduce or withdraw its intervention in enterprise innovation and implement the post-subsidy and post-evaluation mechanism for government-subsidized programs.

Peer effect of enterprise innovation: Empirical evidence from China.

Innovation investment is crucial to enterprise development and economic growth. As peer enterprises face similar market environment and development prospects, they pay attention to the innovation activities of peer enterprises in the industry because of economic rationality or the idea of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. This paper aims to investigate the interaction and channel of enterprise innovation behavior of peer effect based on the data of Chinese share-listed enterprises from 2010 to 2021. The results show that peer effect exists in the innovation behavior of enterprises. We also provide evidence that managerial ability is the mechanism of the peer effect of enterprise innovation. In addition, we find that small-scale enterprises are more likely to be affected by the innovation behavior of peer enterprises compared with large enterprises. More importantly, we reveal that economic policy uncertainty significantly negatively regulates the peer effect of enterprise innovation. JEL classification: G30, G31, O31.

Criminal law-based copyright protection with entrepreneurial spirit.

This study aims to optimize the enterprise criminal law-based copyright protection. This exploration discusses the role of the entrepreneurial spirit (ES) in criminal law-based copyright protection. To study the relationship between ES and criminal law-based copyright protection, the concepts of ES, criminal law-based copyright protection, and enterprise innovation are given. Next, by collecting literature, hypotheses are put forward. They include the relationship between ES and enterprise innovation, ES and the criminal law-based copyright protection, and the intermediary role of ES in the criminal law-based copyright protection and economic growth. Then, relevant models are established. Finally, the hypotheses are tested through experiments and empirical analysis, and the model is regressed to test the experimental data's robustness and the scale's reliability and validity. The empirical analysis shows that: (1) the significance of ES under the 1% index is greater than 0. It indicates that the higher the managers' ES is, the greater the enterprise innovation is. (2) The significance of criminal law-based copyright protection on ES under the 1% index is greater than 0 and the regression coefficient is 0.59. This shows that criminal law-based copyright protection has a significant positive impact on ES. (3) Under the l% index, the significance of ES on economic growth is greater than 0 and the regression coefficient is 0.63. It shows that ES mediates the relationship between criminal law-based copyright protection and economic growth. Therefore, strengthening criminal law-based copyright protection improves the ES and leads to faster enterprise and regional economic development. Therefore, the state should pay attention to criminal law-based copyright protection to encourage innovation to promote enterprise development. This exploration studies the relationship among ES, economic growth, enterprise innovation, and criminal law-based copyright protection. The finding provides a theoretical reference for criminal law-based copyright protection.

Research on the innovation of time-honored brands from the perspective of dual ethical patterns.

Introduction: Innovation has become an important means to promote the high-quality development of time-honored brands. However, the research on how to stimulate innovation investment in time-honored brands, especially that conducted in the local context, is still rare. To supplement the research limitations, this study adopts the perspective of dual ethical patterns and is set in the domestic context to explore the ethical influence of traditional cultures and marketization on the innovation investment of time-honored brands. Methods: We proposed two complementary methods, which are OLS regression and fsQCA analysis respectively, to systematically analyze the mechanism and key path of the dual ethical pattern to promote the innovation of time-honored brands. Results: The results show that traditional culture and marketization level are both positively related to the innovation of time-honored brands. However, traditional culture and marketization level are mutually exclusive in their process of affecting the innovation of time-honored brands. Discussion: This paper advances time-honored brands literature by highlighting the dual ethic pattern formed by traditional culture and marketization level on the innovation investment of time-honored brands. The findings respond to the academic debate between traditional culture and the innovation of time-honored brands, while enriching the research scope on the innovation mechanism of time-honored brands in the local context.