Abstract:    The Chinese-style innovation is an essential part of the Chinese-style modernization and an important direction for the development of SMEs in the context of digitalization. In order to stimulate the innovative development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of digitalization, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People′s Republic of China (MIIT) has announced the list of specialized, refined, differential and innovative "little giant" enterprises in several batches. Great superiority in strengthening S&T innovation has been shown and the resilience of the industrial chain supply chain has been improved in order to accelerate the resolution of the stranglehold problems.In view of the research gaps and the necessity of Chinese innovation paths for specialized, refined, differential, and innovative "little giant" in the context of digitization, CiteSpace software was used in this paper to analyze and propose 7 necessary influencing factors. In addition, the hybrid NCA and modified dynamic fsQCA methods were used to exam the core conditions and group effects of 200 companies so as to refine the corresponding innovation pathways, with the Resource-Based View and the TOE theoretical framework as a sufficient support.The findings from this research are as follows: (1) Innovation in "little giant" firms in the context of digitalization is not driven by a single factor, but rather by the synergy of technological, organizational and environmental conditions. (2) R&D intensity, digital emphases and government subsidies have a significant effect on the SMEs′ Chinese-style innovation, of which government support is an important feature of Chinese-style innovation, reflecting China′s institutional advantages. (3) Four innovation paths are proposed, namely, technology endowment, government-dependent, production-orientation, and integrated development, and they are supported by typical enterprise cases.The practical inspirations drawn from this research are as follows. For individual managers, it is correct and necessary to shift from a single mindset to an integrated one in the context of digitization. For the organization as a whole, the choice of path should be based on the reality of the enterprise′s technological, organizational and environmental resources. With regard to the formulation of national macro-policies, the government should play an active role in the “signaling effect”, which can guide specialized, refined, differential and innovative “little giant” enterprises to develop more efficiently and innovatively in the context of digitization.

Key words:  specialized, refined, differential and innovative “little giant”, digitalization, innovation path, TOE framework, configuration analysis