Science Research Management

Science Research Management ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 73-81.

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A research on the influence mechanism of policy guidance on innovation performance of SMEs

Zheng Ye1,2, Liu Yao3   

  1. 1. School of Public Policy and Administration, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi′an 710072, Shaanxi, China; 
    2. School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi′an 710072, Shaanxi, China；
    3. School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
  • Received:2018-05-21 Revised:2018-10-11 Online:2021-04-20 Published:2021-04-19

Abstract: Government policies to guide the innovation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can usually be divided into direct policy guidance and indirect policy guidance. In practice, government departments at all levels vigorously promote the innovation and development of SMEs by playing a good combination of policies. However, does policy guidance affect the innovation performance of SMEs? Further, what policy guidance can promote the innovation and development of SMEs? The research on these problems can provide effective ideas for the implementation of national innovation-driven development strategy and the reform of government science and technology system. Up to now, although scholars have made fruitful achievements in the relationship between policy guidance and enterprise innovation, there is still a lack of relevant research to reveal the process of influence between the two. And few studies compare the impact of different types of policy guidance on enterprise innovation performance.Based on the theoretical research literature and practical interview, this study constructs a theoretical model of policy guidance affecting the innovation performance of SMEs. On this basis, the study takes 457 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in  the mainland of China as the research object, and then empirically test the relationship among the variables such as policy guidance, enterprise innovation ability, enterprise scale, enterprise innovation performance, and identify the differences in the effect of different types of policy guidance on enterprise innovation performance. The results of multiple regression analysis show, Firstly, both direct and indirect policy guidance can significantly promote SMEs innovation performance, and the effect of direct policy guidance is stronger; Secondly, there is a significantly inverted U-shaped relationship between direct policy guidance and SMEs innovation capability. The innovation capability also plays a partial intermediary role in the relationship between policy guidance and SMEs innovation performance, and its intermediary role is stronger in the relationship between indirect policy guidance and SMEs innovation performance; Thirdly, enterprise size positively moderates the relationship between indirect policy guidance and SMEs innovation performance; Lastly, R&D subsidies, enterprise income tax deduction and weighted deduction for R&D expenses are the three policy guidance ways that can best improve the innovation performance of SMEs.Based on the above research, this study draws the following policy implications: (1) improving the innovation performance of SMEs is the ultimate goal of government policy guidance. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the innovation ability and performance of SMEs. (2) Direct policy guidance has an inverted U relationship with the innovation capacity of SMEs, which suggests that the government should set a certain standard for enterprise support, and when some enterprises meet this standard, it should consider other ways to promote the innovation ability of SMEs, rather than continue to blindly carry out direct support in order to avoid waste and inefficiency of resources. (3) There are obvious differences in the role of different types of policy guidance in promoting enterprise innovation performance, which requires government departments to conduct in-depth research on SMEs, and then adopt targeted guidance measures according to the characteristics of different enterprises, different stages of development and different needs, so as to avoid the "one-size-fits-all ". In addition, according to the research findings in this study, it is suggested that for the newly established and lack of resources, the direct policy guidance should be the main, but for the SMEs that have developed to a certain scale and have strong strength, we should consider indirect policy guidance to stimulate the due effect of different policies.

Key words:  policy guidance, innovation performance, innovation capability, enterprise size, SMEs