Research on the Growth Mechanism of Hidden Champi-ons:Perspective from Micro-innovation
Hidden champions refer to those enterprises which is highly specialized in niche markets,has leading technology or production processes,and has high market share and profit margin,but is not well-known to the general public.Hidden champions play an important role in driving China's high-quality economic development.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has issued relevant documents to support and cultivate hidden champions to boost China's economy.Micro-innovation refers to innovative strategy guided by user needs,which achieves continuous improvement through continuous trial and error and iteration.Hidden champions emphasize continuous innovation and close ties with customers,which enables them to better respond to market needs.Micro-innovation is a customer-oriented in-novation strategy,which can help hidden champions gain competitive advantage.However,existing research has not explained the relationship between micro-innovation and firm performance from the perspective of firm growth,nor has it fully revealed the impact of situational factors on the relationship between micro-innovation and firm growth.There-fore,this study builds the growth mechanism model for hidden champi-ons from the perspective of micro-innovation.The model explores the impact mechanism of micro-innovation on hidden champions'perfor-mance,reveals the mediating role of dual growth and the moderating role of environmental dynamism.The research conclusions can provide theoretical guidance for the cultivation of hidden champions in China.This study takes hidden champions as the research object and collects data through questionnaires.It verifies the concept model of hidden champions'growth mechanism from the perspective of micro-inno-vation using linear regression and bootstrap method.The empirical analysis results show that:Firstly,micro-innovation has a significant positive impact on the performance of hidden champions.Existing research has explained the capability foundation and implementation mechanism of micro-innovation,but there has not been in-depth study on the relationship between micro-innovation and the performance of hidden champions.This study finds that micro-innovation can effec-tively improve the performance of hidden champions.Secondly,product growth and efficiency growth has mediating effect in the relationship between micro-innovation and the performance of hidden champions.Previous studies have mainly explained the potential reasons behind the performance of hidden champions from the perspectives of research and development models,niche strategy and the evolution of knowl-edge power.This study suggests the existence of dual growth model for hidden champions.Dual growth enables hidden champions to obtain profits based on product differentiation advantages and operational efficiency advantages,which is the reason why hidden champions can continuously maintain their performance advantage and is the essen-tial feature which distinguishes them from other enterprises.In other words,product growth and efficiency growth are two important paths for hidden champions to achieve performance improvement.Hidden champions effectively integrate heterogeneous knowledge with new product development through micro-innovation,helping companies develop products with higher market acceptance.This enables hidden champions to achieve sustained product growth and ultimately improve firm performance.At the same time,hidden champions can integrate and restructure various resources brought by micro-innovation,helping them optimize resource allocation and improve operational efficiency.This enables hidden champions to achieve sustained efficiency growth,thereby enhancing firm performance.Finally,environmental dyna-mism has negative moderating effect on the relationship between micro innovation and product growth,as well as on the relationship between micro-innovation and efficiency growth.The main theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows:First,the study proposed the dual growth mode of hidden champions.Based on the fact that hidden champions have performance advantage,this study identified the dual growth mode of hidden champions.Dual growth en-ables hidden champions to simultaneously gain profits based on product differentiation advantages and profits based on operational efficiency advantages.Dual growth is the reason why hidden champions can main-tain their performance advantages,and it is also the essential feature that distinguishes hidden champions from other enterprises.Second,this study constructed a conceptual model of the relationship between micro-innovation,dual growth and the performance of hidden champi-ons,and established a research framework for the growth mechanism of hidden champions.The study found that micro-innovation can promote the product growth and efficiency growth of hidden champions,thereby improving enterprise performance.This result effectively expands the field of micro-innovation and hidden champions.At the same time,by introducing the situational variable of environmental dynamism,the research on the relationship between micro-innovation and the perfor-mance of hidden champions has been enriched.This study reveals the growth mechanism of hidden champions,which is of great significance for the management and cultivation of hidden champions.Firstly,micro-innovation is an important driving force for hidden champions to achieve sustainable growth.Micro-innovation,as a low-cost,high-yield innovation method,provides hidden champions with new options for improving the performance of hidden champions.Therefore,hidden champions should regard micro-innovation as an important method for achieving growth.Hidden Champions should be customer-oriented and continuously improve and optimize their existing products to create innovative products and enhance their competitive advantage.Secondly,product growth and efficiency growth are the key pathways for hidden champions to achieve competitive advantage through micro-innovation.Hidden champions integrate internal and ex-ternal knowledge through micro-innovation to achieve the dual goals of continuous product innovation and efficient production.Based on this,hidden champions should pay attention to the important role of product growth and efficiency growth in the growth process of enterprises.By strengthening the search and integration of information,knowledge and other resources of organization,hidden champions can achieve continuous product innovation and efficiency improvement.Finally,en-vironmental dynamism is an important situational factor in the growth of hidden champions,and environmental dynamism will weaken the positive effects of micro-innovation on product growth and efficiency growth.As an important contextual factor,environmental dynamism brings higher requirements and challenges to the management of hidden champions.Hidden champions should pay attention to the environmen-tal adaptability of micro-innovation strategy.Hidden champions should adjust their micro-innovation strategy according to changes in the business environment and aligns hidden champions'micro-innovation strategy with product and efficiency growth,thereby enhancing their competitive advantage.
万方数据
维普
