非控股大股东退出威胁能否推动企业创新转型?OA

Currently,there is a lack of driving force of technological innovation and the influence of innovation chain among Chinese firms.Therefore,the demand for innovation transformation of firms is becoming increasingly urgent.By absorbing,learning and reinventing new knowledge around the whole world,the R&D internationalization can help firms expand their innovation channels,and thus becomes a new way to realize innovation transformation and climb the global value chain for firms.However,due to information asymmetry,the self-serving behaviors of controlling shareholders and management can hinder the R&D internationalization.Under the mixed-ownership reform and the stock market liberalization,non-controlling major shareholders,represented by institutional investors and foreign shareholders,have a relatively higher proportion of shares,and thus becoming an important force in corporate governance.According to the signaling theory,when non-controlling major shareholders are unable to participate in corporate governance through voting by hands,the exit threats can effectively constrain the self-serving behaviors of controlling major shareholders and management.Through incorporating the perspective of social psychology into the analytical framework of corporate governance,previous studies have verified the positive governance effect of the exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders on corporate cash holdings,earnings quality,stock price crash risk and other aspects.However,the governance effect of exit threats on firms' R&D internationalization remains unclear. Based on the aforementioned context,this paper takes China's A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2022 as our research samples,and examines the impact of exit threats of non-controlling major shareholder on firms' R&D internationalization through theoretical analysis and empirical tests.Firstly,panel LOGIT regression with fixed effects shows that the exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders significantly promote the R&D internationalization of firms,and this effect is more significant when firms engage in R&D internationalization by greenfield investment.Secondly,after conducting endogeneity tests,including Heckman two-stage model,instrumental variable two-stage model and propensity score matching method,and robustness tests,such as lagging two periods of the explained variable,the Cloglog model and province-firm cross-clustering adjustment method,the conclusions remain unchanged.Thirdly,by dividing the full sample into different subsamples,the results indicate that exit threats play a supplementary role when firms' motivation of R&D internationalization is relatively lower.Specifically,the positive effects of exit threats on R&D internationalization are more significantly in state-owned firms,non-high-tech firms and firms investing in developing countries.Fourthly,panel OLS regression with fixed effects shows that the exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders promoted the R&D internationalization of firms by alleviating financing constraints and increasing risk-taking.Finally,the paper distinguishes the developing paths and organizational forms of innovation transformation among different firms,and constructs a mediating effect model.Through panel OLS regression with fixed effects,the results demonstrate that the exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders further promote firms' innovation transformation by exploitative innovation,exploratory innovation and independent innovation. The conclusions provide clear theoretical and practical implications.Firstly,based on the actual situations in China,the research broadens the research scope of exit threat hypothesis,and provides the theoretical support and practical direction for harnessing the positive governance effect of non-controlling major shareholders in Chinese firms.Secondly,considering the importance of dual principal-agent problems within the study framework,this research provides new sights into clarifying the effect mechanism of the exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders.Thirdly,taking R&D internationalization as the mediating pathway,this research further reveals the impact and specific ways in which exit threats of non-controlling major shareholders influence firms' innovation transformation.The research results hold the policy significance for accelerating the implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy and promoting the formation of a new development pattern characterized by mutual reinforcing domestic and international circulation through R&D internationalization.