Abstract:     Stimulating the vitality of various market entities is a critical measure to accelerate the establishment of a new development paradigm. However, existing studies primarily focus on the direct effects of the policies for the "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative" (SRDI) enterprises on "Little Giant" enterprises, while overlooking its potential impact on their supply chain partners. Using the data from A-share listed companies in China between 2008 and 2022, this study employed a two-stage staggered difference-in-differences model to investigate how the policies for SRDI enterprises influence the innovation of supply chain partners associated with "Little Giant" enterprises. The findings revealed that the policies inhibit the innovation of supply chain partners through agglomerative effects and population effect, and such inhibitory effect exhibiting a dynamic temporal pattern. On one hand, the policies for SRDI enterprises concentrate the financial capital and intellectual resources on "Little Giant" enterprises, thereby constraining the innovation resources available to their supply chain partners. On the other hand, as the policies for SRDI enterprises progress, their supply chain partners exhibit "free-riding" behavior, reducing their incentives for independent innovation. Further analysis demonstrated that the supply chain partners with higher levels of digitalization and positive and stable expectations about macroeconomic conditions can effectively mitigate this inhibitory effect, stimulate their innovative activity, and enhance both enterprise development quality and supply chain resilience. This study constructs a theoretical framework to evaluate the indirect effects of the SRDI policy based on the supply chain transmission mechanism, providing an important theoretical foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the policy′s effects.

Key words:  policy for SRDI enterprise, supply chain partner, innovation, agglomerative effect, population effect