后追赶时代下的后发者窘境：模仿、创新与跨情境研究

With the latecomer firm’s development beyond catch-up, the technological gap between the leader and the latecomer is getting smaller and smaller. Meanwhile, the latecomer is facing the risk of frontier exploration that the leader suffers and the increasingly fierce industry change. Firm decision makers of the latecomer firm contemplating imitation of a leader’s innovation face a dilemma: Imitate a new, unproven product, or forgo imitation and perhaps disrupt its own accumulated advantage. Approaching this underexplored area of research, this study will try to apply information-based imitation theory and rivalry-based imitation theory to evaluate the factors influencing the latecomer’s imitation under conditions of high environmental change and high information asymmetry by using mixed methods of case study and survey. This study will carefully analyze the management contexts of the latecomer and the leader which are quite different and try to understand the complexity and uniqueness of the latecomer’s management practices. For the insufficiency of mainstream business imitation theory, this study will explore the technology- and market-level characteristics resulting in different imitation outcomes under the cross-context of the leader and the latecomer, developing a business imitation theory of the latecomer based on the context of the developing country. The research results will contribute to the bodies of knowledge on innovation management and catch-up of the latecomer firm.

随着后发企业进入后追赶时代，它们与领先企业的技术差距越来越小，同时也开始面临领先者正在面对的前沿探索的风险，以及更加激烈的产业变革环境。后发企业的决策者们面临一种窘境：要么继续模仿发达国家领先企业，模仿它们正在开发的结果难料的新产品，要么自己创新并承受原有优势可能被领先者彻底颠覆的巨大风险。面对这个新兴的研究领域，本研究利用基于信息的模仿理论和基于对抗的模仿理论，通过案例研究结合问卷调查等混合研究方法，研究高度产业变革和信息不对称条件下后发企业模仿行为的影响机制。本研究将深度剖析后发企业和领先企业所处的各自独特的管理情境，理解后发企业管理实践的复杂性、独特性，针对主流商业模仿理论的不足，探索跨领先者/后发者情境下的影响后发企业模仿行为的技术与市场特征因素，提出基于发展中国家情境的后发企业商业模仿理论，从而丰富现有后发企业追赶与创新管理理论。

随着后发企业进入后追赶时代，它们与领先企业的技术差距越来越小，同时也开始面临领先者正在面对的前沿探索的风险，以及更加激烈的产业变革环境。后发企业的决策者们面临一种窘境：要么继续模仿发达国家领先企业，模仿它们正在开发的结果难料的新产品，要么自己创新并承受原有优势可能被领先者彻底颠覆的巨大风险。面对这个新兴的研究领域，本研究通过案例研究结合问卷调查等混合研究方法，研究中国企业超越追赶的实现机制。本研究深度剖析后发企业所处的独特的管理情境，理解后发企业管理实践的复杂性、独特性，针对主流技术追赶理论的不足，探索中国情境下的影响后发企业创新行为的技术与市场特征因素，提出基于发展中国家情境的后发企业超越追赶理论，从而丰富现有后发企业追赶与创新管理理论。