Abstract:From the perspective of competitive advantage acquisition, this paper identifies and examines the mechanism of different dimensions of dual innovation synergy on the sustainable development of enterprises and their various dimensions, and examines the intermediary role of competitive advantage. Based on the empirical research of 226 sample enterprises, it is found that the synergy of dual innovation positively affects the sustainable development of enterprises through the partial intermediary role of long-term competitive advantage, but the two dimensions of the synergy of dual innovation (balance and complementarity) have different influence mechanisms and paths on sustainable development. This paper not only enriches the theory of dual innovation and the theory of sustainable development of enterprises, but also provides guiding suggestions for enterprises to carry out dual innovation effectively so as to better achieve the goal of sustainable development.

Key words:dual innovation; synergy; competitive advantage; enterprise sustainable development

Abstract: Under the increasingly fierce market competition environment, dual innovation has become a magic weapon for enterprises to improve performance and constantly win in the industry. As we all know, dual innovation includes small and micro utilization innovation and exploration innovation with large range and strong degree. Utilization innovation will have a positive impact on the short-term financial performance and long-term competitive advantage of enterprises, while exploration innovation is conducive to the acquisition of long-term competitive advantage. However, there is a certain contradiction between the utilization innovation and the exploration innovation. Too much attention to the utilization innovation is conducive to the improvement of the short-term innovation performance, but it is easy to cause the weak market adaptability of the enterprise products, and the lack of the follow-up development power; too much attention to the exploration innovation is conducive to overcome the technical difficulties of the industry and form a competitive advantage, but the time is too long and the investment is large, and there is no stable economic income as the basis it is difficult to complete exploratory innovation. Therefore, whether the two kinds of innovation activities match well or not will directly affect the innovation performance, which will affect the enterprise performance and future development. The research on the matching problem of dual innovation mainly focuses on how to carry out the utilization innovation and exploration innovation effectively, the factors such as organizational structure, resource environment and dynamic capability and the mechanism of their relationship. Academic circles have agreed that there are two ways to match the dual innovation. One is to balance the two kinds of innovation in the case of limited resources to reduce business risk, and the other is to make full use of the promotion between the two to produce leverage effect. These two matching modes respectively involve two dimensions (aspects) of dual Innovation: dual innovation balance and dual innovation complementarity. However, scholars have different views on the mechanism of the impact of dual innovation balance and dual innovation: some researches show that the balance effect and complementary effect between utilization innovation and exploration innovation will have a positive impact on corporate performance; some researches show that the balanced dual innovations an inverted U-shaped impact on short-term financial performance, which is negatively related to long-term competitive advantage, while the combined dual innovation has a negative impact on corporate performance. It has a positive impact on short-term financial performance and long-term competitive advantage.

In order to reveal the influence mechanism of dual innovation synergy on the sustainable development of enterprises, this paper studies the relationship between dual innovation synergy and its two dimensions and the sustainable development of enterprises and its five dimensions with the long-term competitive advantage as the intermediary variable. Questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 380 enterprises in Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong and Jiangsu for 8 months. Selection criteria of sample enterprises and filling personnel: sample enterprises carry out dual innovation and pay attention to their synergy for a long time; sample enterprises survive for more than 5 years; questionnaire is filled in by managers above middle and senior level. 226 valid questionnaires were collected, using structural equation model to test the hypothesis and analyze the path. 

The results show that: (1) the long-term competitive advantage of enterprises with better dual innovation synergy is strong, and the strong long-term competitive advantage is conducive to the sustainable development of enterprises. (2) dual innovation balance and complementarity are conducive to the promotion of long-term competitive advantage, but from the perspective of path coefficient, dual innovation complementarity has a stronger impact on long-term competitive advantage, that is, dual innovation complementarity is more conducive to the promotion of long-term competitive advantage of enterprises. (3) the positive impact of long-term competitive advantage on sustainable development is mainly through improving the level of human resources, technological innovation ability and management ability, which has little effect on the improvement of economic strength and market adaptability. (4) dual innovation balance and complementarity are conducive to the sustainable development of enterprises, but the impact mechanism and path are different: dual innovation balance has a direct role in improving the level of human resources of enterprises, at the same time, it will improve the technological innovation ability, business management ability and the level of human resources of enterprises by improving the long-term competitive advantage; and dual innovation complementarity can directly improve the level of human resources, technological innovation ability, economic strength, market adaptability and management ability of an enterprise, and at the same time, it can improve the level of human resources, technological innovation ability and management ability of an enterprise through long-term competitive advantage. From the perspective of influence dimension and path coefficient, compared with the balance of dual innovation, dual innovation complementarity has a stronger impact on the sustainable development of enterprises.