Research on Enterprise R&D Strategy of Product-Service Innovation Guided by Quality Preference

Research and development (R&D) plays a crucial role in reducing enterprise costs and enhancing competitiveness in the market. Customers’ quality preference for product-service is a key driver of enterprise sales. Consequently, studying R&D investment strategies holds significant research value. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between customers’ quality preference for product-service, R&D investment, and product-service price. To achieve this, we improve the Stackelberg game model to consider these factors and use numerical simulation to investigate the optimal R&D strategy. Results show that an enterprise’s absorptive capacity positively influences its market demand and profit, while negatively impacting its competitors. A higher customers’ quality preference coefficient indicates a stronger competitive advantage. Moreover, implementing a non-cooperative R&D strategy not only helps enterprises expand their R&D investment scale and accumulate knowledge and technology, but also plays a positive role in increasing sales volume and profits. We suggest that enterprises should focus on improving their absorptive capacity and diversifying R&D strategy, while also considering customers’ quality preferences and market demand when making R&D investment decisions. Careful consideration should be given to the pros and cons of cooperative and non-cooperative R&D strategies to choose the most suitable approach.