Identification of Factors Influencing the Evolution of Enterprise Innovation Ecosystem:An Exploratory Study Based on Grounded Theory Coding
The enterprise innovation ecosystem is still new in China.However,the evolution of many enterprise innovation ecosystems is failing at an alarming rate.It is not only affects the vitality of enterprise innovation,but also severely hinders the enhancement of China's technological innovation capabilities and economic development.Therefore,exploring the influencing factors and internal mechanisms of the evolution of enterprise innovation ecosystems is particularly important for enterprise practices.Given the current lack of research on the influencing factors of the evolution of enterprise innovation ecosystems,following the coding methodological steps of grounded theory,this paper conducts semi-structured interviews with the chairmen,general managers,R&D managers,and divisional CEOs of ten Chinese core enterprises in innovation ecosystems,collects relevant data from secondary sources such as publicly disclosed information,news reports,and articles form journals,a model of influencing factors affecting the evolution of enterprise innovation ecosystems is constructed,which includes 4 main categories and the corresponding 10 sub-categories.The results show that these four main categories significantly affect the evolution of enterprise innovation ecosystems,that is,the absorption capacity(acquisition and assimilation of external knowledge,transformation and exploitation of external knowledge,R&D investment),inter-organizational trust,network embeddedness(relational embeddedness,network centrality),and environmental munificence(infrastructure support,availability of supporting suppliers,talent support,policy support)all play significant roles,while their ways and paths influencing the evolution of enterprise innovation ecosystems are varied,with absorption capacity serving as an internal driving factor,while inter-organizational trust,network embeddedness,and environmental munificence respectively working as a micro-contextual factor,meso-contextual factor,and macro-contextual factor.Finally,based on the research conclusions,the enlightenment is drawn for the government and the core enterprises of innovation ecosystem respectively,such as improving environmental redundancy,creating a cultural environment of trust,building a strategic platform for information resource sharing,as well as fully paying attention to the usefulness of external knowledge to existing knowledge,and adhering to the thinking of innovation ecosystem.
enterprisesinnovation ecosystemsystem evolutioncore enterprise leadinginfluencing factors identificationgrounded theory codingenterprise innovation and creation