Influence of technological innovation capabilities on product competitiveness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how technological innovation capabilities (TICs) influence the product competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing enterprises and identify the key technological innovation components. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative research setting was applied in Chinese Yangtze River Delta. Survey was carried out with 166 responses. Findings – The study reveals that the firm’s strategies capabilities, knowledge resources, fundamental research, application R & D, and manufacturing capabilities have significant influence on the new product development performance and product competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Interestingly, firm’s organizational capabilities and human, finance, and material resource have no significant correlation with the product competitiveness. Practical implications – From a practical perspective, the relationships among TICs enablers, processes, and product competitiveness may provide a clue regarding how firms can promote technological innovation to sustain their competitive advantage. Moreover, the key factors of TICs found in the study are useful for policy makers and managers of Chinese firms to make decision. Originality/value – This study is one of the first studies to apply the structure equation model method to measure the relationship between TICs and product competitiveness under the background of Chinese manufacturing. The results provide a new framework on the how technological innovation capability influence product competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing firms. From a managerial perspective, this study identifies several crucial TICs factors to support product competitiveness, and discusses the implications of these factors for developing organizational strategies that encourage technological innovation.