基于创新链的后发企业逆向创新实施路径

   逆向创新，为后发企业开展全球创新并开拓发达国家市场提供了新的战略思想。采用质化研究方法，对创新链理论和基于领先企业的逆向创新理论进行了理论思辨，厘清了后发企业逆向创新的构成要素，提出了后发企业逆向创新链概念，归纳了创新链类型及其对应的后发企业逆向创新实施路径。主要研究结论为：第一，后发企业逆向创新链的构成要素应包括创意获取、研发和市场进入次序，与西方领先企业相比，上述逆向创新三要素的具体内容与选择机制均存在明显区别；第二，基于创新要素组合，后发企业的逆向创新链可以划分为本土市场推动型、海外市场拉动型以及推拉复合型三种类型；第三，以逆向创新链类型为基础，可以归纳出六条后发企业逆向创新实施路径，企业可根据自身资源能力的匹配程度选择适当的实施路径。

Implementation approaches of reverse innovation for latecomers from the perspective of innovation chain

   Reverse innovation provides the latecomers with a new strategy to conduct global innovation and to enter the developed markets. The concept of reverse innovation is originated from developed countries. It is a new mode of technology innovation and internationalization strategy. Different from the traditional innovation where the innovation is started and finished by advanced companies in developed countries and flows to developing countries, the reverse innovation is initiated and performed in emerging countries by western advanced multinational companies and then traces back to developed countries. It is of great benefits for advanced companies to save R&D expenditures and lower the total innovation cost for a complete innovation process. Although the concept is proposed and performed by western companies at the beginning, more and more researchers believe that the developing companies in emerging countries should be the dominant players of reverse innovation conception. The strategic value such as technology innovation and internationalization is much more tremendous for latecomers in emerging countries.      A qualitative research method is adopted in this research, in which a theoretical reflection on existed innovation chain theory and reverse innovation theory is conducted so as to abstract new perspectives. The main purpose is to find out the basic elements of latecomer′s reverse innovation chain, to define the concept and definition of latecomer reverse innovation chain, to distinguish the categories of latecomer reverse innovation chain, and to demonstrate the typical paths through which latecomer reverse innovation could be realized. The potential contributions of this study lie in the discrimination of critical elements of latecomer′s reverse innovation which is very helpful to detect the nature of reverse innovation initiated in emerging countries, as well as in the induction of reverse innovation chain categories and the demonstrated innovation paths for latecomers.    The main findings and contributions of this research are as follows. First, it is revealed that key elements of latecomer reverse innovation chain include concept acquirement, technology development, and market entry sequence. The market entry sequence refers to the order of entry to primary market and secondary market. It is argued that all the three elements are of critical distinctions in both definition and selection mechanisms, comparing with reverse innovation initiated by advanced multinational companies locating in developed countries. Three most significant distinctions are found in this research. In particular, for latecomers embedded in developing countries, the origin of new conceptions of reverse innovation could be acquired both in developing market and in developed market which is much broader than western companies, the main resource of technology development should be stored and exploited in latecomer′s mother country but not in western countries, and the sequence of market entry between developing country and targeted developed country is of variety which is relevant with latecomer′s resource characteristics. The above first finding demonstrates that the theory construction of latecomer′s reverse innovation should be embedded in local context, but not simply draw the present conceptions proposed by western research.     Second, based on the combination of innovation elements, reverse innovation chain is defined. According to the different combinations of latecomer reverse innovation elements the concept origins, the technology development, and the market entry sequence, three categories of latecomer reverse innovation chain are induced, which are named as local market-compounded reverse innovation, oversea market-pulled reverse innovation, and pushing & pulling-compounded reverse innovation, respectively. The market-compounded reverse innovation is highly characterized by local resource, in which the origin of innovation concept, the completion of R&D, and the primary market entry all happens in latecomer′s mother country. It could be seen as a step-by-step internationalization process. On the contrary, the oversea market-pulled reverse innovation is performed generally on oversea information and resources, which requires the firm′s degree of resource internationalization is of high level. It is of higher risk and resource requirement for latecomers to perform this type of reverse innovation. The pushing & pulling-compounded reverse innovation is a mixture of the above two kinds of innovation modes.    Third, six typical paths of latecomer reverse innovation are induced based on the three categories of latecomer reverse innovation chain, which are the paths of DDDA, ADDA, ADAA, ADAD, DDAD, and DDAA, where the letter D represents developing country while the letter A represents advanced country. Taking path DDDA as an example, it means the reverse innovation conception is searched and obtained from developing country, and the technology innovation is executed and completed in developing country based on latecomer′s local resource and technology capability accumulated in mother country, and new product is produced and sold in developing market and then is flown to advanced countries. Path DDDA is the representative of local market-compounded reverse innovation chain, while path of ADAA is the representative of oversea market-pulled reverse innovation chain. The other four paths belong to the pushing & pulling-compounded reverse innovation chain. A dozen of typical reverse innovation cases initiated by Chinese latecomer companies are provided and discussed for each innovation path, from which the run of reverse innovation chain and the main features of reverse innovation are illustrated and compared. These proposed reverse innovation paths provide perspectives and approaches for latecomers in developing countries to explore their target markets located in developed countries. Latecomers should select proper path according to their own resource and capability combinations. An effective linkage or match between firm resource/capability and requirements of each reverse innovation path is a prerequisite to reach success.     Although a theoretical framework of latecomer reverse innovation is proposed in this research from the perspective of innovation chain, which describes the complete innovation process, critical stages, and main implementation routes, there are still several critical issues needed to be solved in this field before the exploration of this new innovation concept goes further, e.g. to explore the determinants of innovation path selection and the impacting patterns from the perspective of resource dependence theory or transaction economics theory, to explore the measurement of latecomer′s reverse innovation performance which may need extensive theoretical analysis and case studies, and to explore the influencing factors of reverse innovation performance and its changing mechanisms which should be founded on empirical studies.