“绿色+创新”视角下产品模块化策略实现企业绩效的作用机理研究

The Mechanism of Product Modularity Strategy to Achieve Firm Performance Based on the Perspective of “Green + Innovation”

摘要:

产品模块化具备创新与绿色双重价值，已经成为制造企业为实现绿色发展普遍采用的设计策略。同时，绿色转型造成的绩效负担，也是企业关注的焦点问题。以此为动因，本文基于“绿色+创新”的视角，提出了以模块化策略为抓手，以双元绿色创新为中介路径（匹配运作实践中企业针对不同模块选择的差异化创新幅度），进而实现企业绩效的理论框架。特别地，结合定制化的运作趋势，本文提出了“中间层知识”（即产品如何适应应用场景的新知识）的间隙以及由此可能造成的协同研发过程中的风险，从而探究供应商参与的负向调节作用。对189家中国制造企业的实证检验结果表明：产品模块化正向促进双元绿色创新与企业绩效；双元绿色创新正向促进企业绩效；开发式绿色创新和探索式绿色创新在产品模块化与企业绩效之间存在中介与链式中介作用；供应商参与负向调节产品模块化与双元绿色创新的关系。研究结果在丰富模块化理论研究的同时也为企业应用模块化策略实现绿色发展提供理论指导和管理启示。

Abstract:

Product modularity has become a common design strategy adopted by China’s manufacturing firms to achieve green development due to its innovation and green value. Meanwhile, the performance burden caused by green transformation is also the focus of firms. Motivated by this and based on the perspective of “green + innovation”, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that takes product modularity as the driving factor of firm performance and ambidextrous green innovations as the internal mechanisms (matching the differentiated innovation range selected by firms for different modules in the operational practice). Specially, combined with the customized trend, this paper proposes that the gap of "middle-level knowledge" (i.e., new knowledge of how products adapt to application scenarios) may cause risks in the process of collaborative R&D, so as to explore the moderating role of supplier involvement. Using data collected from 189 manufacturing firms in China, all hypotheses are tested. The empirical results show that: product modularity has a significant positive effect on ambidextrous green innovations and firm performance; ambidextrous green innovations have significant positive effects on firm performance; exploitative green innovation and exploratory green innovation play mediating roles and a chain mediating role between product modularity and firm performance; supplier involvement weakens the relationships between product modularity and ambidextrous green innovations. The results enrich the research on modularity theory and provide the theoretical guidance and management suggestions for firms to apply modular strategy to achieve green development meanwhile.