Integration into the Industrial Chain and Enterprise Innovation:Novel Approach to Industrial Chain Measurement Using Firm Data
The industrial chain is a crucial component of China's modern industrial system,and integrating it with the in-novation chain is the essential route for implementing an innovation-driven development strategy.Although the industrial chain has become a buzzword in various development plans and industrial policies in China,empirical frameworks and measurement methods for quantitatively analyzing the industrial chain are still lacking.This study seeks to bridge this gap by adopting the methodology of Acemoglu et al.(2010,2012),which employs the theory of directed graphs in mathemati-cal sciences to analyze input-output tables,and by drawing on the evaluation methods of intra-group industrial chains from Lemelin(1982),Fan&Lang(2000),and Acemoglu et al.(2009),utilizing China's enterprise big data to construct a theoretical framework and measurement methods for quantitative analysis of the industrial chain.Using artificial intelligence(Al),this study gathers related transaction and equity investment data from AiQiCha,ShangShangCha,regional tendering and bidding public service platforms,and annual reports of listed firms,and employs a depth-first search algorithm to parse the industrial chain positions of enterprises.On this basis,combining data from input-output tables and the theory of directed graphs,this study calculates the industrial chain linkage,and further inte-grates the industrial chain centroid to measure the degree of industrial chain integration.We attempt to answer the ques-tion:"Have the local industrial chain in which an enterprise is located and its degree of integration into the industrial chain affected the enterprise's innovation behavior,thereby driving innovation-driven development of the national economy from the bottom up,and from enterprises to the supply side?"The empirical results demonstrate that enterprises'integration into the industrial chain significantly improves their innovation performance via knowledge spillover and scale effects,and the improvement exhibits significant heterogeneity due to enterprise characteristics(whether the enterprise is a chain leader and ownership).Specifically,integration into the industrial chain significantly improves the innovation performance of non-chain-leading and private enterprises,while the impact on the innovation performance of chain-leading and state-owned enterprises is not significant.Considering the market environment,more intense industry competition can strengthen the enhancement effect of the industrial chain on enterprises'innovation performance.Furthermore,an extended analysis based on the integration of innovation and indus-trial chains finds that technological innovation cooperation among enterprises within the industrial chain is another means to enhance enterprises'innovation performance.This study contributes to the literature in several ways.First,it approaches industrial chain research from a quantifi-able perspective,constructing a theoretical framework and specific methods for measuring the industrial chain.The input-output relationships between enterprises on the industrial chain,that is,the transformation relationship between raw mate-rials(intermediate inputs)and final products,are the difficulties in quantitative research of the industrial chain.Second,we build a comprehensive industrial chain map based on enterprise data.This represents an innovative endeavor to re-search the industrial chain using Chinese enterprise data,which compensates for the inability of existing input-output tables to accurately depict dynamic micro-level relationships between enterprises.And it provides a new micro-econometric perspective:a complex dynamic network system closely connecting enterprise production points through ma-terial flow industrial linkages,and encompassing multi-level nested input-output relationships and equity relationships(ownership relationships).Third,it verifies the innovation effects of enterprises integrating into local industrial chains and concludes that such integration can enhance their innovation performance,yielding both theoretical and practical implica-tions.Fourth,it provides theoretical and empirical support for industrial chains that have long been included in Chinese government policies but lack quantitative methods.Our analytical process and measurement results offer a relatively sci-entific quantitative analysis model to construct a modern industrial system and advance industrial chain development.
Industrial ChainEnterprise InnovationIndex of Industrial Chain LinkageIndex of Industrial Chain LinkageIntegration of Innovation and Industrial Chains