Can Social Capital intheIndustrial Cluster Break the Innovation Constraints of Family Businesses in Transgenerational Succession:Research Based on the Reference Point Shift
Family businesses are crucial for the implementation of national innovation-driven strategies.After 40 years of reform and opening up,Chinese family businesses have entered a period of intergenerational succession.According to PwC's 2018 Global Family Business Survey China Report,77％of leaders in family businesses in themainland of China identified innovation as their main challenge.Academic research has shown that the innovation level of Chinese family businesses has significantly decreased in transgenerational succession.Therefore,exploring the issue of reduced innovation investment in family businesses during transgenerational successionhas important theoretical and practical significance for national innovation-driven development strategies andfamily businesses that are facing the challenges of intergenerational succession.The test results of statistical analysis on survey data of family businessesin industrial clusters indicate that family businesses in the transgenerational succession are dominated by maintaining family control as an internal strategic reference point,thereby suppressing their innovation activities.With the increase of social capital in the industrial cluster,the strategic reference points of family businesses in transgenerational succession will shift from internal to external,with stronger external guidance,thus alleviating the inhibition of innovation in transgenerational succession.Expanding research shows that social capital in the industrial cluster promotes innovative behavior by enhancing family businesses'risk-takingduring transgenerational succession.The above conclusions are supported whether innovation investment or new product innovation is used as a reflection of family business innovation behavior.This paper expandsprevious literaturein the following three aspects.Firstly,using the collective knowledge structure of family businesses'decision-making teams as the internal explanatory mechanism,it provides a theoretical explanation that the strategic reference points of Chinese family businesses during the transgenerational succession can undergo"internal to external"shift under the influence of social capital,enriching the research results of shifts in the strategic reference points of family businesses.Secondly,from the perspectives of strategic reference point theory and social capital theory,thispaper deepensthe understanding of the innovative behavior and mechanism of family businesses and expandsresearch on innovation in family businesses in transgenerational succession.Thirdly,existing research only focuses on social capital at the individual level and does not involve social capital at the organizational level.In the context of China,industrial clusters provide a new research perspective.The paper reveals the important role of social capital in the industrial cluster in the strategic reference point shifts of family businesses during the transgenerational succession.On one hand,it guides and encouragesfamily businesses to increase innovation investment intransgenerational succession,ultimately achieving"built-to-last";on the other hand,it helps the government to play a macro regulatory role and promote the development of industrial clusters towards higher formats.
social capital in the industrial clusterfamily businesstransgenerational successionstrategicreference pointenterprise innovation
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