Pathways to High-Level Integrated Innovation Between Large Enterprises and SMEs: Evidence from Wenzhou Under the TOE Framework

Abstract

Integrated innovation (in Chinese, rongtong chuangxin), namely the collaborative innovation of large, medium, small, and micro enterprises along and across industrial chains, has become a central instrument of China’s innovation policy. Drawing on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, this study examines how multiple conditions jointly configure to produce high-level integrated innovation among enterprises in Wenzhou, a city emblematic of China’s private economy. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of enterprises in Wenzhou conducted between May and August 2024, yielding 105 valid responses, supplemented by ten in-depth interviews. Descriptive statistics show that only 41.9% of the 105 surveyed firms—44 firms in total—had engaged in inter-firm innovation cooperation; among these 44 firms, talent shortage (61.4%), lack of cooperation platforms and channels (50.0%), and funding constraints (45.5%) are the most salient barriers. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on the 44 firms engaged in integrated innovation, the study identifies three equifinal pathways to high-level integrated innovation: an R&D-driven path, a digital-technology-driven path, and an organization–environment composite path. Government policy support emerges as the only core condition common to all three configurations, while top management support and industry competitive pressure function as auxiliary conditions. The findings suggest that high-level integrated innovation is the outcome of conjoint technological, organizational, and environmental factors rather than of any single factor, and that differentiated strategies should be adopted by large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the government.