Edinburgh Napier University

  Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises. It is important to understand these innovation capabilities and to find how they might relate to promoting innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
– In this paper, data obtained from a survey of enterprises in the Chinese provinces Liaoning and Henan are analysed using multiple regression to ascertain how facets of innovation capabilities might enhance the likelihood of innovation success. Analysis is conducted for innovation defined as incremental, radical and the total of both.
Findings
– It is found that focusing on customers tends to reduce innovation for Chinese companies, whilst competitor orientation, knowledge enhancement and management capability are associated with enhanced innovative ability.
Research limitations/implications
– There are many determinants of innovation, notably as skills and attributes of the individual entrepreneur. In this paper the focus is on organisational facets and not on those of the individual. The paper shows the importance of monitoring competitors, as well as managing and enhancing knowledge.
Originality/value
– The paper reports the analysis and extent of different capabilities for successful innovation from a unique data set from two provinces in China.