Liability of returnees, sustainable innovation ability and survival of new technology start-ups:An analysis based on the event history of enterprises

Li Dehui, Pan Lijun

Science Research Management ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5) : 76-85.

PDF(1391 KB)
PDF(1391 KB)
Science Research Management ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5) : 76-85.

Liability of returnees, sustainable innovation ability and survival of new technology start-ups:An analysis based on the event history of enterprises

  • Li Dehui1, Pan Lijun2
Author information +
History +

Abstract

   With the continuous enhancement of China′s comprehensive national strength and global market competitiveness, more and more overseas talents choose to return to China for their own career development, among which, returnee entrepreneurship has become an important path for the career development of returnees. Overseas returnees′ learning and working experiences make them have rich insights in the field of management skills and professional technology, in that way, they play a unique role in the innovation and entrepreneurship field in China. However, entrepreneurship is rooted in specific social and market situations, and its difficulties and challenges in the survival and development of new enterprises cannot be underestimated. Unlike many previous literatures which believe that returnees can directly bring more competitive advantages to enterprises, this paper finds that returnees have the re-embedding dilemma. And that re-embedding dilemma faced by returnees themselves may destroy the advantages they bring so that it does not necessarily provide enterprises with a longer possibility of higher performance and sustained operation. The negative effects of returnees may include returnees′ alternative business opportunities, re-embedding liabilities, team culture conflicts within a company, and so on. Facing liability of returnees may damage the advantages of returnees′ newly-established technology enterprises, and then from the perspective of the duration of business, they do not account for the enterprises that grow better than the local ones. 
    This article takes the re-embedding dilemma of returnee technology companies as the starting point, and based on the archives of technology companies in one Science and Technology Park from 2005 to 2007, it examines the liability of returnees to the survival of new technology companies through the vertical tracking of ten years from 2008 to 2018. And then, through the COX proportional hazards regression model, we further find that enterprises cannot simply rely on their inherent characteristics of returnees to obtain long-term competitive advantage, shape and maintain a higher level of sustainability. Continuous innovation ability can curb the liability of returnees and it is the key factor for enterprises to survive and develop.
This article has reached the following conclusions: First of all, returnees with cutting-edge technology and management skills can quickly form a unique competitive advantage under the strong support of various policies. The survival rate of returnee technology companies in the start-up period is higher than that of locally-grown companies. In the meanwhile, the liabilities such as alternative business opportunities, local context re-embedding, and team conflicts exist. This difference has closed over time, and returnees may face more obvious dilemmas in a complex and changing domestic business environment. When the liability of returnees outweighs the positive effects brought by the inherent advantages of returnees, returnees′ new technology companies do not account for survivability better than local companies. Enhancing the continuous innovation capability of start-ups is not only an effective means to test the knowledge reserve of enterprises, but also a target requirement to improve the operational capabilities of enterprises. Enterprise technology accumulation can effectively make up for the liability of returnees, and strengthen the process of transforming scientific and technological knowledge into scientific research results, thereby shaping enterprises, and maintain a higher level of operating efficiency and improve the ability to continue operations.
   Furthermore, this paper provides a variety of management enlightenments and policy recommendations: firstly, returnee entrepreneurs should fully realize the importance of the complex domestic business environment, closely integrate their pursuits with the survival and development of enterprises, and fully estimate the difficulties that new technology enterprises may face in the process of R&D capability and transformation of results. And improve their ability to adapt to market development, play the role of linking the advantages of domestic and foreign resources, in order to minimize the liability of returnee embedding. Secondly, enterprises should employ personnel with experience at home and abroad appropriately, optimize the internal structure of team members, establish effective internal communication mechanisms, reduce communication costs that caused by heterogeneity of teams, and help returnee entrepreneurs make full use of national policy support, quickly adapt to the domestic social and market situation; at the same time, new ventures need to continue to strengthen the level of independent research and development, enhance the transformation effect of scientific and technological achievements to scientific and technological benefits. Finally, besides introducing innovative and entrepreneurial policies to attract overseas talents, the government and science parks should also establish a scientific evaluation mechanism for the effect of policy implementation, improve the system of intellectual property protection, build a fair competitive market environment, and build a market environment that has both global market attraction as well as effectively support the development of enterprises in sustainable business environment.
    In summary, the possible contributions of this article are as follows: In terms of management practice, this article reveals the unique situation faced by returnee entrepreneurs compared to local entrepreneurs. Objectively speaking, entrepreneurial failure is a major problem that entrepreneurs want to avoid but have to face. But this article focuses on the comparison between returnee entrepreneurs and local entrepreneurs, which can provide inspiration for the management practices of different enterprises. Then in terms of management theory, unlike many previous literatures that returnee entrepreneurs can directly bring more competitive advantages to enterprises, this article finds that returnee entrepreneurs do not necessarily provide companies with longer-term sustainability. The possibility of operation, overseas alternative business opportunities for overseas returnees, local market barriers, and conflicts in team culture may all damage the advantages of returnee entrepreneurial enterprises, and thus do not account for better than local growth companies from the perspective of continuous operation time. This provides the necessary foundation for building a management theory with Chinese context. 
    As for empirical research methods, this article also provides a rooted research path, that is, to implement a long-term tracking study with an appropriate sample size. It not only considers comparative studies between samples, but also can explore the characteristics of the samples. The characteristics, through the setting of scientific and standardized research steps, summarize and analyze the specific problems in the survival process of enterprises, which provides a theoretical basis and analytical perspective for subsequent in-depth research.

Key words

liability of returnee / start-up / innovation capability / survival analysis

Cite this article

Download Citations
Li Dehui, Pan Lijun. Liability of returnees, sustainable innovation ability and survival of new technology start-ups:An analysis based on the event history of enterprises[J]. Science Research Management. 2022, 43(5): 76-85

References

[1] Kenney M, Breznitz D, Murphree M. Coming back home after the sun rises: Returnee entrepreneurs and growth of high tech industries[J]. Research Policy. 2013, 42(2): 391-407.
[2] Lin D, Lu J, Liu X, Zhang X. International knowledge brokerage and returnees ’ entrepreneurial decisions[J]. Journal of International Business Studies. 2016(47): 295-318.
[3] Gimmon E, Levie J. Founder's human capital, external investment, and the survival of new high-technology ventures[J]. Research Policy. 2010, 39(9): 1214-1226.
[4] Marvel M R. Human Capital and Search-Based Discovery: A Study of High-Tech Entrepreneurship[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. 2013, 37(2): 403-419.
[5] Filatotchev I, Liu X, Lu J, Wright M. Knowledge spillovers through human mobility across national borders: Evidence from Zhongguancun Science Park in China[J]. Research Policy. 2011, 40(3): 453-462.
[6] 王辉耀. 海归创业"三三"现象[J]. 中国中小企业. 2007(09): 40-41.
[7] Hambrick D C, Mason P A. Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers[J]. The Academy of Management Review. 1984, 9(2): 193-206.
[8] Hambrick D C. Upper Echelons Theory: An Update [J]. The Academy of Management Review. 2007, 32(2): 334-343.
[9] Filatotchev L, Liu X, Buck T, Wright M. The export orientation and export performance of high-technology SMEs in emerging markets: The effects of knowledge transfer by returnee entrepreneurs[J]. journal of International business Studies. 2009(40): 1005-1021.
[10] 徐细雄, 朱红艳, 淦未宇, 李万利. “海归”高管回流与企业社会责任绩效改善——基于文化趋同视角的实证研究[J]. 外国经济与管理. 2018, 40(05): 99-112.
[11] 王舒扬, 高旭东. 何种人力资本对海归创业者更有效:管理还是技术?[J]. 科研管理. 2018, 39(02): 1-9.
[12] 陈怡安, 杨河清. 海归回流对中国技术进步的影响效应实证[J]. 经济管理. 2013, 35(04): 82-93.
[13] 黄国良, 徐加武. 高管海外经历与资本结构优化调整——来自创业板上市公司的经验证据[J]. 商业研究. 2016(02): 142-148.
[14] Giannetti M, Liao G, Yu X. The Brain Gain of Corporate Boards: Evidence from China[J]. The Journal of Finance. 2015, 70(4): 1629-1682.
[15] 梁剑, 吴静. 海归高管特征与企业技术创新[J]. 经济研究导刊. 2017(04): 17-20, 74.
[16] 胡望斌, 张玉利, 杨俊. 同质性还是异质性:创业导向对技术创业团队与新企业绩效关系的调节作用研究[J]. 管理世界. 2014(06): 92-109.
[17] 刘军, 章凯, 仲理峰. 工作团队差序氛围的形成与影响:基于追踪数据的实证分析[J]. 管理世界. 2009(08): 92-101.
[18] 姚冰湜, 马琳, 王雪莉, 李秉祥. 高管团队职能异质性对企业绩效的影响:CEO权力的调节作用[J]. 中国软科学. 2015(02): 117-126.
[19] Selmer J. Expatriates' hesitation and the localization of Western business operations in China[J]. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 2004, 15(6): 1094-1107.
[20] Li H, Zhang Y, Li Y, Zhou L, Zhang W. Returnees Versus Locals: Who Perform Better in China's Technology Entrepreneurship?[J]. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. 2012, 6(3): 257-272.
[21] 陈健, 柳卸林, 邱姝敏, 高雨辰. 海归创业的外来者劣势和知识资本的调节作用[J]. 科学学研究. 2017, 35(09): 1348-1358.
[22] Peng M W, Sun S L, Chen P H. The Institution-Based View as a Third Leg for a Strategy Tripod[J]. Academy of Management Perspectives. 2009.
[23] 范巍, 蔡学军. 留学人员回国创业环境报告[M]. 北京: 北京大学出版社, 2011.
[24] Hirshleifer D, Low A, Teoh S H. Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?[J]. The Journal of Finance. 2012, 67(4): 1457-1498.
[25] 宋建波, 文雯, 王德宏. 海归高管能促进企业风险承担吗——来自中国A股上市公司的经验证据[J]. 财贸经济. 2017, 38(12): 111-126.
[26] 刘青, 张超, 吕若思. ”海归“创业经营业绩是否更优:来自中国民营企业的证据[J]. 世界经济. 2013(12): 70-89.
[27] 范兆斌. 海归的动态技术转移效应:来自民营上市公司的证据[J]. 国际经贸探索. 2015, 31(09): 43-55.
[28] 罗思平, 于永达. 技术转移、“海归”与企业技术创新——基于中国光伏产业的实证研究[J]. 管理世界. 2012(11): 124-132.
[29] 陈赟畅, 黄卫东, 钱晓田. 海归人员国内外科研环境差异分析及协同管理策略研究[J]. 科学管理研究. 2015, 33(06): 85-88.
[30] 李平, 许家云. 金融市场发展、海归与技术扩散:基于中国海归创办新企业视角的分析[J]. 南开管理评论. 2011, 14(02): 150-160.
[31] 顾勇, 何会涛, 柳卸林. 海外高层次人才在华创业成长障碍分析及对策研究——以苏州国际精英创业周为例[J]. 工业技术经济. 2013, 32(10): 23-31.
[32] 刘海峰. 当前海归创业亟待解决的八项后续服务[J]. 江苏科技大学学报(社会科学版). 2010, 10(02): 58-60, 103.
[33] 董洁林. “天生全球化”创业模式探讨:基于“千人计划”海归高科技创业的多案例研究[J]. 中国软科学. 2013(04): 26-38.
[34] 杨河清, 陈怡安. 海外高层次人才引进政策实施效果评价——以中央“千人计划”为例[J]. 科技进步与对策. 2013, 30(16): 107-112.
[35] 杨月坤. 海归人才创新创业现状及对策研究——以常州市为例[J]. 科技进步与对策. 2013, 30(01): 146-149.
[36] 张信东, 吴静. 海归高管能促进企业技术创新吗[J]. 科学学与科学技术管理. 2016, 37(01): 115-128.
[37] 张琰. “海归”加盟地方中小民营科技企业的影响研究[J]. 新丝路(下旬). 2016(01): 131-132.
[38] 李平, 许家云. 国际智力回流的技术扩散效应研究-基于中国地区差异及门槛回归的实证分析: 经济学(季刊)[Z]. 2011: 10, 935-964.
[39] 陈晓红, 李喜华, 曹裕. 创业知识资本与企业绩效关系研究[J]. 科学学研究. 2009, 27(05): 1008-2053.
[40] Dai O, Liu X. Returnee entrepreneurs and firm performance in Chinese high-technology industries[J]. International Business Review. 2009, 18(4): 373-386.
[41] 苗琦, 鲍越, 刘鹰. 人力资本与技术资本对我国海归创业意向影响[J]. 科学学研究. 2015, 33(07): 1035-1042.
[42] 潘镇, 殷华方, 鲁明泓. 制度距离对于外资企业绩效的影响——一项基于生存分析的实证研究[J]. 管理世界. 2008(07): 103-115.
[43] 田瑞强, 姚长青, 袁军鹏, 潘云涛, 李俊峰. 基于履历信息的海外华人高层次人才成长研究:生存风险视角[J]. 中国软科学. 2013(10): 59-67.
[44] 吴冰, 王重鸣. 小型创业企业生存分析[J]. 科研管理. 2007(05): 41-44.
[45] 杜运苏, 杨玲. 中国出口贸易关系的生存分析:1995-2010[J]. 国际贸易问题. 2013(11): 14-23.
[46] 杨玉民, 刘瑛. 规模以下工业企业年龄状况及相关分析[J]. 统计研究. 2006(06): 52-55.
[47] 肖兴志, 何文韬, 郭晓丹. 能力积累、扩张行为与企业持续生存时间——基于我国战略性新兴产业的企业生存研究[J]. 管理世界. 2014(02): 77-89.
PDF(1391 KB)

Accesses

Citation

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/