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| Financing Modalities and the Choice of Binary Innovation Paths for Firms: A Study Based on Technological and Non-technological Innovation |
| WU Yilin, ZHANG Min, YU Hongjun
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| Research Center of Applied Statistics, Renmin University of China; School of Statistics, Renmin University of China; Guanghua School of Management, Peking University |
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Abstract Innovation is an important factor in economic growth and prosperity. Innovation includes both technological and non-technological innovation. Research has focused on the influencing factors of technological innovation. Relatively little literature has examined the factors influencing non-technological innovations, especially the impact of the macroeconomic environment. The financial system plays an important role in the allocation of innovation resources. There may be differences in the impact of different financing modalities, such as banks and stock markets, on innovation. Most previous studies have examined the impact of a single financing modality, such as bank loans. Fewer have provided a comprehensive and systematic comparison of the various financing modalities.
Therefore, we explore the factors driving technological innovation and non-technological innovation based on data from the 2020 National Enterprise Innovation Survey in China at the prefectural and municipal levels. Using a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model based on a system of simultaneous equations, we compare the impacts of bank loans, the stock market, the bond market and venture capital investment on technological and non-technological innovation. Our aim is to answer the following questions: whether the support of the banking sector, which is dominant in China's financial system, is stronger or weaker than that of other financing modalities; and how to guide the banking sector to promote the synergistic development of technological and non-technological innovations.
This paper makes the following findings. Each financing modality has a significant role in promoting technological and non-technological innovation. Bank loans play a smaller role in technological innovation than other forms of financing. The role of bank loans in non-technological innovation is smaller than those of the stock market and venture capital, and larger than that of the bond market. When firms are constrained by financing, the expansion of bank loans promotes only non-technological innovation, while other forms of financing still promote both technological and non-technological innovation. Intellectual property protection, financial guarantees, and digital finance guide bank loans to promote synergies between technological and non-technological innovation. Factors affecting technological innovation also include openness to the outside world, market competition, cultural atmosphere, economic base, and entrepreneurial qualifications. Factors affecting non-technological innovation also include openness to the outside world and the age of entrepreneurs. Therefore, we put forward a series of policy recommendations, including encouraging non-technological innovation, improving the multi-level financial market system, upgrading the ability of banks to serve enterprises in innovation, and strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights.
Relative to existing studies, the main contributions of this paper are as follows. In terms of theory, first, this paper enriches and complements the regional innovation literature. Previous regional innovation studies have mostly focused on technological innovation and neglected non-technological innovation. In this paper, we incorporate both types of innovation into the model to comprehensively examine the current state of innovation at the city level in China and analyze the regional differences in innovation path choices. Second, this paper expands the theory of non-technological innovation. Most previous studies on the influencing factors of non-technological innovation have considered enterprise micro-factors. This paper utilizes prefecture-level city data to explore the impact of the regional economic and social environment, and it reveals the driving factors of non-technological innovation at the city level. Third, this paper compares the impacts of bank loans and other financing modalities on innovation. The degree of matching between the risk appetite characteristics of the investor and the capital demand characteristics of the financier determines the difference in impact on technological innovation. For non-technological innovation, the difference in impact is determined by whether each financing modality can effectively fulfill the function of corporate governance. The magnitude of financial pressure exerted on firms by each financing modality leads to differences in the impact on innovation decisions. In terms of empirical analysis, first, previous studies on non-technological innovation in China are mostly based on small-scale questionnaire surveys and lack basic and global data support. The data source in this paper is the National Enterprise Innovation Survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, which is the largest and most specialized and authoritative innovation survey in China. Our research can provide an effective policy reference basis for promoting the coordinated development of regional innovation. Second, in this paper, technological innovation and non-technological innovation are both used as explanatory variables, and a SUR model is used for parameter estimation, with the aim of introducing a mutually reinforcing relationship between the two innovation types into the model. Third, we use innovation survey data to construct financing constraint indicators to intuitively reflect the subjective feelings of firms regarding innovation financing dilemmas. We also construct an indicator to reflect the financial guarantees for prefecture-level municipalities.
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Received: 06 December 2022
Published: 17 July 2024
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