Summary:
Technology-seeking and “capital-for-technology” are major features of China's strategy for “going global” with innovation-driven development. In recent years, Chinese enterprises' outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and stocks have been among the best in the world. At the same time, no matter how much OFDI enablesa company's technological innovation, the company cannot succeed without effective support for capital allocation, and a distortion of the capital markets has a negative impact.Mitigatingthe impact of capital market distortion is an important challenge for corporate decision-makers. In view of this challenge, this paper attempts to build a framework for analyzing the transmission mechanismsby which technological innovation affects Chinese OFDI enterprises. The data used in this paper come from the “Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database” (1998-2009), the “Abstracts of Chinese Patent Database, 1985-2012” , and the “List of Overseas Investment Enterprises (Institutions).” The main conclusions of the paper are as follows: (1) In recent years, OFDI from Chinese companies has had a positive effect on technological innovation. The main mechanism by which OFDI helps enterprises to promote technological innovation is factor-intensive conversion, which serves to improve an enterprise's efficiency in terms of management and production. (2) At present, distortion of the capital market remains a real problem in China, and such distortion significantly suppresses the effects of OFDI-based technological innovation.Distortion of the capital market operates as an external friction factor that interferes with the effective allocation of resources for innovation. Unlike previous studies, this paper circumvents the debate about whether “market-led” or “bank-led” financial structures cause capital market distortions. The core issues explored are which factors cause these distortions,and how they affect OFDI-driven technological innovation in Chinese companies. In addition, the paper considers the selection of patented technology as a form of innovative behavior that is legally effective, and can affect the overall competitiveness of an enterprise's or even a country's capacity for independent innovation. This paper makes two marginal contributions. (1) It builds on existing research to construct a model of the relations between the three major factors of “factor-intensive conversion,”“management efficiency,” and “production efficiency.” This paper uses a recursive measurement model and draws on enterprise-related data to conduct a series of tests,and obtains a robust, credible research conclusion. This conclusion provides a reasonable explanation regarding the path by which Chinese companies can effectively use OFDI to obtain advanced foreign technologies. (2) Based on previous research concerning the impact that capital factor market distortions have on technological innovation, this paper incorporates the distorting factors affecting Chinese capital markets into aframework for analyzing the effects of OFDI technology innovation.Empirical tests are conducted to identify the mechanisms and results of capital factor market distortions that affect OFDI-driven technology innovation, thereby providing a new perspective on this issue. During the process of marketizing capital elements, the effective mechanisms for making an effective link between technology and the economy, and for transforming knowledge into material form (from potential productivity to actual productivity) remain little understood. This article suggests that in the current stage of financial supply-side structural reform, China should build a plan to support the financialization of market-based intellectual property.Making such a plan is a different task from that of capital regulation, as it must include consideration for the equity, securitization, and liquidity of intellectual property. The proposed program is mainly concerned with “inducing” a financial mechanism that effectively combines capital elements and human capital, thereby providing more economic incentives for positive behavior on the part of entities (enterprises and individuals) that are willing to increase their R&D investment. Such an approach can channel more financial and human resources toward participation in corporate technological innovation. At the same time,this approach can improve the efficiency of corporate OFDI innovation and enable the transformation of China's economy.
[1]戴魁早和刘友金,2016,《要素市场扭曲与创新效率——对中国高技术产业发展的经验分析》,《经济研究》第7期,第72～86页。 [2]盖庆恩、朱喜、程名望和史清华,2015,《要素市场扭曲、垄断势力与全要素生产率》,《经济研究》第5期,第63～77页。 [3]景光正、李平和许家云,2017,《金融结构、双向FDI与技术进步》,《金融研究》第7期,第66～81页。 [4]简泽、徐扬、吕大国、卢任和李晓萍,2018,《中国跨企业的资本配置扭曲:金融摩擦还是信贷配置的制度偏向》,《中国工业经济》第11期,第24～41页。 [5]李永、王艳萍和孟祥月,2013,《要素市场扭曲是否抑制了国际技术溢出》,《金融研究》第11期,第140～153页。 [6]李梅,2014,《金融发展,对外直接投资与母国生产率增长》,《中国软科学》第11期,第170～182页。 [7]林伯强和杜克锐,2013,《要素市场扭曲对能源效率的影响》,《经济研究》第9期,第125～136页。 [8]罗德明、李晔和史晋川,2012,《要素市场扭曲、资源错置与生产率》,《经济研究》第3期,第4～14页。 [9]毛其淋和许家云,2014,《中国企业对外直接投资是否促进了企业创新》,《世界经济》第8期,第100～127页。 [10]孙浦阳、侯欣裕和盛斌,2018,《服务业开放、管理效率与企业出口》,《经济研究》第7期,第136～151页。 [11]王碧珺、张明和李冉,2018,《成本压力、吸收能力与技术获取型OFDI》,《世界经济》第4期,第99～123页。 [12]肖仁桥、王宗军和钱丽,2015,《技术差距视角下我国不同性质企业创新效率研究》,《数量经济技术经济研究》第10期,第38～55页。 [13]杨连星和刘晓光,2016,《中国OFDI逆向技术溢出与出口技术复杂度提升》,《财贸经济》第6期,第97～112页。 [14]杨汝岱,2015,《中国制造业企业全要素生产率研究》,《经济研究》第2期,第61～74页。 [15]张杰、周晓艳和李勇,2011,《要素市场扭曲抑制了中国企业R＆D?》,《经济研究》第8期,第78～91页。 [16]Hayes and Andrew, F. 2009. “Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical Mediation Analysis in the New Millennium” Communication Monographs, 76(4):408～420. [17]Bloom N, Sadun R and Van Reenen. 2016. “Management as a Technology? ” NBER Working Paper 22327. [18]Card, D. and Krueger, A. B. 1996. “School Resources and Student Outcomes: An Overview of the Literature and New Evidence from North and South Carolina”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 10(4), 31-50. [19]Restuccia, D. and Rogerson, R. 2008. “Policy Distortions and Aggregate Productivity with Heterogeneous Establishments” ,Review of Economic Dynamics, 11(4):707～720. [20]Dunning J H. 1981. “International Production and the Multinational Enterprise”, Allen & Unwin , London. [21]Helpman, E., Melitz, M. J. and Yearle, S. R. 2004. “Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms” ,Marc Melitz, 94(1):300～316. [22]Hsieh C T. and Klenow P J. 2009. Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP In China and India[J]. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124 (4): 1403-1448. [23]Head C K, Ries J C and Swenson D L. 1999. “Attracting Foreign Manufacturing: Investment Promotion and Agglomeration” ,Regional Science and Urban Economics, 29(2): 197～218. [24]Jan De Loecker and Frederic Warzynski, 2012. “Markups and Firm-Level Export Status,” American Economic Review, 102(6): 2437-2471. [25]Kim W and Weisbach M S. 2008. “Motivation for Public Equity Offers: An International Perspective” ,Journal of Financial Economics, 87(2): 281～307. [26]Oyer P, Schaefer S and Ashenfelter O. 2010. “Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives”, in Handbook of Labor Economics, North Holland, San Diege, 4: 1769～1817. [27]Qiu,L.D. and M.Yu. 2015. “Managerial Efficiency and Product Decision: Evidence from Chinese Firms”, Working Paper. [28]Romer P M. 1990. “Endogenous Technological Change” ,Journal of Political Economy, 98(5): 71～102.
