2026, 39(3): 37-50
企业早期及晚期创新失败对后续创新成功的影响
Impact of Firms′ Early and Late Innovation Failure on Subsequent Innovation Success
DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1672-0334.2026.03.003
中国分类号：F273
作者：
张晓飞 内蒙古大学 经济管理学院，呼和浩特 010021
孙玉涛 大连理工大学 经济管理学院，辽宁 大连 116024
周 宁 东北财经大学 工商管理学院，辽宁 大连 116025
杨 琳 大连理工大学 知识产权学院，辽宁 大连 116024
基金项目：国家自然科学基 金 (72502033)； 辽宁省社会科学规划基金 (L25CGL011)； 内蒙古自治区社会科学基金项目(2026HZY08)； 教育部人文社会科学研究项 目 (23YJCZH263)； 内蒙古大学高层次人才科研启动项目 (10000-A260015/025)
中文摘要：
创新伴随着高风险和高不确定性，创新失败成为客观存在的普遍现象。传统观念认为“失败是成功之母”，但已有研究缺乏对创新失败的分类讨论，研究结论存在较大分歧和争议，导致“何种类型的创新失败更有益于后续创新”这一关键问题尚未得到明确解答。根据创新所处的阶段，将创新失败进一步划分为早期失败和晚期失败，探究两种类型的创新失败对企业后续创新成功的影响机制及边界条件。基于组织学习理论，以2013年至2022年中国医药企业为样本，运用面板Logit模型检验早期创新失败和晚期创新失败对企业后续创新成功的影响。研究结果表明，①早期创新失败能够显著提高企业后续创新成功的概率，但晚期创新失败对企业后续创新成功具有显著抑制作用。②早期创新失败和晚期创新失败通过试错机会和研发努力两条路径影响企业后续创新成功。③融资约束削弱了早期创新失败对企业后续创新成功的正向作用，但强化了晚期创新失败对企业后续创新成功的负向作用。相反，技术竞争强化了早期创新失败与企业后续创新成功的正向关系，削弱了晚期创新失败与企业后续创新成功的负向关系。④在政府补助、高管团队研发背景、董事长与CEO两职兼任等方面存在异质性的企业中，早期创新失败和晚期创新失败对企业后续创新成功将产生不同的影响。研究结果丰富了创新失败的分类研究，为揭示早期和晚期不同阶段的创新失败对企业后续创新成功的影响提供了新的解释，有助于深入理解不同时期创新失败与企业后续创新成功的复杂关系，验证了“失败是成功之母”的传统观念并不具有普适性。同时，研究结果拓展了创新失败影响企业后续创新成功的边界条件，为企业结合资源禀赋条件和技术竞争态势合理配置研发资源，实现转败为胜、促进企业后续创新成功提供参考依据。
关键词：早期创新失败；晚期创新失败；后续创新成功；融资约束；技术竞争
英文摘要：
Innovation is often characterized by high levels of risk and uncertainty, rendering innovation failure a prevalent phenomenon. The traditional notion that “failure is the mother of success” has been widely recognized in academic and practial contexts. However, existing research has not provided a clear answer to the key question of “what types of innovation failure are more beneficial to subsequent innovation.” This is mainly because there has been a lack of research that systematically classifies innovation failure, resulting in significant divergence and controversy in the research conclusions. Based on different stages of the innovation process, innovation failure is further differentiated into two stages: early failure and late failure. This study explores the impact mechanisms and boundary conditions of these two types of innovation failure on firms′ subsequent innovation success. Drawing on organizational learning theory and using a sample of Chinese pharmaceutical firms from 2013 to 2022, this study employs a panel Logit model to examine the effects of early and late innovation failure on firms′ subsequent innovation success. The empirical results indicate that early innovation failure significantly increases the probability of firms′ subsequent innovation success, while late innovation failure exerts a prominent negative effect. Early and late innovation failures influence firms′ subsequent innovation success through two distinct pathways: trial-and-error opportunities and R&D efforts. Financing constraints in firms weaken the positive effect of early innovation failure on firms′ subsequent innovation success, whereas they strengthen the negative effect of late innovation failure on firms′ subsequent innovation success. Conversely, technological competition reinforces the positive relationship between early innovation failure and firms′ subsequent innovation success and weakens the adverse effect of late innovation failure. Additionally, the effects of early and late innovation failures on subsequent innovation success exhibit significant heterogeneity across firms in terms of government subsidies, top management teams′ R&D backgrounds, and chairman–CEO duality structures. The research findings enrich the classification literature on innovation failure, offering a new explanation for how innovation failure at different stages—early versus late—affects firms′ subsequent innovation success. This study helps deepen the understanding of the complex relationship between innovation failure at different stages and subsequent innovation success, and verifies that the conventional wisdom “failure is the mother of success” is not universally applicable. Furthermore, the results expand the boundary conditions under which innovation failure influences firms′ subsequent innovation success, providing guidance for firms to rationally allocate R&D resources based on their resource endowments and the dynamics of technological competition, thereby facilitating successful future innovation outcomes.
Key words: early innovation failure|late innovation failure|subsequent innovation success|financing constraints|technological competition
