Multi-market Contact and Corporate R&D Perfor-mance:Based on Multi-market Contact Type Perspective
Previous studies have controversial views on the relation-ship between multi-market contact(MMC)and corporate R&D be-havior.Most studies follow the factor market competition theory and support that corporate R&D behaviors will be improved under MMC,but a few studies have empirically concluded the opposite view.In order to explain this contradictory point of view to a certain extent,this article starts with the subdivision of MMC and studies the impact of two different types of MMC(unintended and purposive)on corpo-rate R&D performance.The results are as follows.Firstly,unintended MMC positively affects the company's R&D performance.After enter-ing a new market for a certain goal,a company may accidentally reach a MMC pattern with the target.Due to the influence of familiarity and deterrence effects,there is also an opportunity to achieve mutual for-bearance with the other party.However,for both companies,the con-struction process of this market structure is passive,and their market competitive willingness has not diminished but is in a suppressed state.After this competitive willingness is blocked in the product market,it will inevitably seek opportunities for transfer and spillover.Therefore,for enterprises that accidentally reach MMC,driven by competitive in-stincts,they will transfer the competition that originally belonged to the product market to the relatively hidden upstream factor market,thereby improving the R&D performance of the enterprise.Secondly,purpo-sive MMC negatively affects the company's R&D performance.For enterprises that intend to establish MMC,their primary goal must be to maintain a stable mutual forbearance relationship with the target en-terprise through the construction of market structure,and then further to obtain excess returns.Therefore,under the control of subjective will,enterprises will restrain themselves from showing obvious aggressive-ness in the R&D field,in order to release positive signals,deepen trust with the target enterprise,and maintain a stable relationship of mutual forbearance.Therefore,under the influence of both subjective and ob-jective factors,those enterprises purposively constructing MMC will inevitably reduce their R&D behavior and intensity,thereby leading to a decrease in R&D performance.Thirdly,organizational redundancy strengthens the positive relationship between unintended MMC and corporate R&D performance.On the one hand,when the level of orga-nizational redundancy is high,enterprises will have more ability and resources to support high-risk projects with high investment and slow returns,such as R&D.On the other hand,the inventory of organiza-tional redundancy in enterprises will enhance their ability to resist ex-ternal risks,and the deterrent effect between enterprises will be weak-ened to a certain extent by the accumulation of resources.Therefore,when the redundancy of the enterprise organization is at a high level,the improvement in R&D performance brought about by unintended MMC will be more significant.However,contrary to expectations,this logic has not been validated under the premise of purposive MMC.Lastly,environmental uncertainty weakens the positive relationship be-tween unintended MMC and corporate R&D performance.In order to ensure the stability of the market in a state of mutual forbearance,en-terprises will strive to release the maximum degree of friendly signals in exchange for the trust and market tolerance of the other party.They will adopt a restrained attitude towards market spillover behavior of upstream factors such as R&D.Therefore,when the environmental un-certainty of a company is high,the improvement in R&D performance brought about by unintended MMC will be weakened.The theoretical contribution of this article is as follows:Firstly,it intro-duces a segmented perspective of MMC,promoting the development of MMC theory.This division enables us to better understand the differ-ences in corporate strategic choices caused by MMC motivations under different causes,and also develops the theory of MMC,providing a theoretical path to understand multi-market behavior biases from the perspective of corporate motivation.Secondly,the application scope and boundaries of mutual forbearance theory have been expanded,indicating that the mutual forbearance effect in the R&D field is still effective under the premise of purposive MMC.However,when mu-tual forbearance is achieved by chance,the mutual forbearance effect will fail in the R&D field.The above results provide evidence for the applicability of mutual forbearance effects in factor markets and offer a new perspective for subsequent research on the applicability of mutual forbearance.Thirdly,it provides a new explanatory approach to the controversial views in the academic community on the relationship between MMC and corporate R&D behavior.This article analyzes the controversial conclusion from a new perspective,distinguishing the motivational differences of enterprises under MMC by segmenting the sources of MMC,and then using this as a starting point to analyze whether different motivations of enterprises will affect the relationship model between MMC and enterprise R&D behavior.The management implications of this article are as follows:Firstly,managers should consider the impact of entering the new product market from a comprehensive perspective.At present,the MMC in the product market are mostly achieved by chance.If enterprise manag-ers can't timely discover and respond to this newly generated MMC,they are likely to lose the opportunity in the following cross-market competition.This requires managers to have a full value chain compet-itive mindset and a holistic perspective,to comprehensively consider and judge the competitive situation in various fields and markets,and then select the most favorable strategic combination for the enterprise.Secondly,managers should attach importance to actively building a MMC pattern between enterprises.Consciously establishing MMC re-lationships between enterprises can not only prevent both parties from facing fierce product market competition and the burden of significant resource commitments,but also have a positive alleviating effect on the competition in the R&D field of enterprises.Thirdly,managers need to accurately estimate the behavioral objectives of their competitors.The market behavior of enterprises is deceptive,and the same behavior may have completely different strategic objectives behind it.Managers need to make a reasonable estimate of the intentions of their competitors,and then prepare accordingly for their goals to ensure that the enterprise does not lose its competitive advantage in highly covert areas such as R&D,leading to overall competition being passive.
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