IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iburev/v23y2014i2p396-406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovation and survival of exporters: A contingency perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Deng, Ziliang
  • Guo, Honglin
  • Zhang, Weifu
  • Wang, Chengqi

Abstract

We challenge the traditional view that innovations always help exporters prosper in competitive international market, by developing and testing the premise that the relationship between innovation and export performance is contingent on some important firm-specific idiosyncrasies. With a large dataset of Chinese firms, the empirical results demonstrate that innovation could be detrimental to exporter survival. Such negative effect is more pronounced for firms that have weak profitability and high outstanding receivables, and also for those without foreign ownership. Nonetheless, we also observe a positive relationship between innovation and survival in highly profitable exporters. By identifying the negative rather than conventionally assumed positive effect of innovation, and the conditions under which innovation facilitates or impedes exporter survival, this paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between innovation and export in the context of emerging markets. Our findings have important implications for how managers develop innovation strategy to compete in the export market.

Suggested Citation

  • Deng, Ziliang & Guo, Honglin & Zhang, Weifu & Wang, Chengqi, 2014. "Innovation and survival of exporters: A contingency perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 396-406.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:23:y:2014:i:2:p:396-406
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2013.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969593113000784
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Firms in International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 105-130, Summer.
    2. Mata, Jose & Portugal, Pedro, 1994. "Life Duration of New Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 227-245, September.
    3. Roberto Fontana & Lionel Nesta, 2009. "Product Innovation and Survival in a High-Tech Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(4), pages 287-306, June.
    4. Aida Caldera, 2010. "Innovation and exporting: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 657-689, December.
    5. Jovanovic, Boyan & MacDonald, Glenn M, 1994. "The Life Cycle of a Competitive Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 322-347, April.
    6. Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers, 2010. "Innovation and the Survival of New Firms in the UK," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(3), pages 227-248, May.
    7. Rui Albuquerque & Hugo A. Hopenhayn, 2004. "Optimal Lending Contracts and Firm Dynamics," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(2), pages 285-315.
    8. Audretsch, David B., 1995. "Innovation, growth and survival," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 441-457, December.
    9. Giarratana, Marco S. & Fosfuri, Andrea, 2004. "Product strategies and startups' survival in turbulent industries: evidence from the security software industry," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb044816, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    10. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    11. de Sousa, José & Poncet, Sandra, 2011. "How are wages set in Beijing?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 9-19, January.
    12. Nicholas Argyres & Lyda Bigelow, 2007. "Does Transaction Misalignment Matter for Firm Survival at All Stages of the Industry Life Cycle?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(8), pages 1332-1344, August.
    13. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    14. Giorgia Giovannetti & Giorgio Ricchiuti & Margherita Velucchi, 2011. "Size, innovation and internationalization: a survival analysis of Italian firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(12), pages 1511-1520.
    15. Barry L. Bayus & Rajshree Agarwal, 2007. "The Role of Pre-Entry Experience, Entry Timing, and Product Technology Strategies in Explaining Firm Survival," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(12), pages 1887-1902, December.
    16. Hielke Buddelmeyer & Paul H. Jensen & Elizabeth Webster, 2006. "Innovation and the Determinants of Firm Survival," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2006n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    17. Rachel Griffith & Elena Huergo & Jacques Mairesse & Bettina Peters, 2006. "Innovation and Productivity Across Four European Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 483-498, Winter.
    18. Besedes, Tibor & Prusa, Thomas J., 2011. "The role of extensive and intensive margins and export growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 371-379, November.
    19. Aw, Bee Yan & Chung, Sukkyun & Roberts, Mark J, 2000. "Productivity and Turnover in the Export Market: Micro-level Evidence from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China)," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 14(1), pages 65-90, January.
    20. Liu, Xiaohui & Buck, Trevor, 2007. "Innovation performance and channels for international technology spillovers: Evidence from Chinese high-tech industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 355-366, April.
    21. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    22. Girma, Sourafel & Greenaway, David & Kneller, Richard, 2003. "Export market exit and performance dynamics: a causality analysis of matched firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 181-187, August.
    23. López Rodríguez, José & García Rodríguez, Rafael M., 2005. "Technology and export behaviour: A resource-based view approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 539-557, October.
    24. Love, Inessa & Preve, Lorenzo A. & Sarria-Allende, Virginia, 2007. "Trade credit and bank credit: Evidence from recent financial crises," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 453-469, February.
    25. Luigi Zingales, 1998. "Survival of the Fittest or the Fattest? Exit and Financing in the Trucking Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(3), pages 905-938, June.
    26. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    27. Paula Bustos, 2011. "Trade Liberalization, Exports, and Technology Upgrading: Evidence on the Impact of MERCOSUR on Argentinian Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(1), pages 304-340, February.
    28. Igor Filatotchev & Xiaohui Liu & Trevor Buck & Mike Wright, 2009. "The export orientation and export performance of high-technology SMEs in emerging markets: The effects of knowledge transfer by returnee entrepreneurs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(6), pages 1005-1021, August.
    29. Ruey-Jer (Bryan) Jean & Rudolf R Sinkovics & S Tamer Cavusgil, 2010. "Enhancing international customer–supplier relationships through IT resources: A study of Taiwanese electronics suppliers," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(7), pages 1218-1239, September.
    30. Chor, Davin & Manova, Kalina, 2012. "Off the cliff and back? Credit conditions and international trade during the global financial crisis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 117-133.
    31. Elena Ianchovichina, 2007. "Are duty drawbacks on exports worth the hassle?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 881-913, August.
    32. Clayton M. Christensen & Fernando F. Suárez & James M. Utterback, 1998. "Strategies for Survival in Fast-Changing Industries," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(12-Part-2), pages 207-220, December.
    33. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Satu Nurmi, 2010. "Dynamics of Export Market Entry and Exit," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(1), pages 101-126, March.
    34. Roper, Stephen & Love, James H., 2002. "Innovation and export performance: evidence from the UK and German manufacturing plants," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1087-1102, September.
    35. Basile, Roberto, 2001. "Export behaviour of Italian manufacturing firms over the nineties: the role of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1185-1201, October.
    36. DiPietro, William R. & Anoruo, Emmanuel, 2006. "Creativity, innovation, and export performance," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 133-139, February.
    37. Mark J. Garmaise, 2003. "Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1007-1040.
    38. Richard Disney & Jonathan Haskel & Ylva Heden, 2003. "Entry, Exit and Establishment Survival in UK Manufacturing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 91-112, March.
    39. Andrew Bernard & Joachim Wagner, 2001. "Export entry and exit by German firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 137(1), pages 105-123, March.
    40. Wang, Chengqi & Kafouros, Mario I., 2009. "What factors determine innovation performance in emerging economies? Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 606-616, December.
    41. Filip De Beule & Ilke Van Beveren, 2012. "Does Firm Agglomeration Drive Product Innovation And Renewal? An Application For Belgium," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 103(4), pages 457-472, September.
    42. Yang, Xiaolou, 2011. "The role of trade credit in the recent subprime financial crisis," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 517-529, September.
    43. Agarwal, Rajshree & Audretsch, David B, 2001. "Does Entry Size Matter? The Impact of the Life Cycle and Technology on Firm Survival," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 21-43, March.
    44. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2006. "Survivor: The role of innovation in firms' survival," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 626-641, June.
    45. Ge, Ying & Qiu, Jiaping, 2007. "Financial development, bank discrimination and trade credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 513-530, February.
    46. Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Entry, Exit, Growth, and Innovation over the Product Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 562-583, June.
    47. Yasar, Mahmut & Rejesus, Roderick M., 2005. "Exporting status and firm performance: Evidence from a matched sample," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 397-402, September.
    48. Peter J Buckley & Jeremy Clegg & Chengqi Wang, 2007. "Is the relationship between inward FDI and spillover effects linear? An empirical examination of the case of China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(3), pages 447-459, May.
    49. Bruno Cassiman & Elena Golovko, 2011. "Innovation and internationalization through exports," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(1), pages 56-75, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vissak, Tiia & Masso, Jaan, 2015. "Export patterns: Typology development and application to Estonian data," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 652-664.
    2. Deng, Ziliang & Wang, Zeyu, 2016. "Early-mover advantages at cross-border business-to-business e-commerce portals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 6002-6011.
    3. Dae-Hwan Kim & Matarr O. Sambou & Moo-Sup Jung, 2016. "Does Technology Transfer Help Small and Medium Companies? Empirical Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 8(11), pages 1-13, November.
    4. repec:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1766-:d:113696 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:eee:energy:v:125:y:2017:i:c:p:55-61 is not listed on IDEAS

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:23:y:2014:i:2:p:396-406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dana Niculescu). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/133/description#description .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.