Abstract:

Enterprises are an important part of the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy. Encouraging enterprises to carry out diversified and disruptive innovation programs is not only an important way to build new advantages in international competition， but also a fundamental driving force for China’s high-quality economic development. Innovation diversity refers to the continuous accumulation of knowledge resources and the diversification of technological capabilities of firms. It represents the potential of firms to develop new technologies， which reflects the quality of innovation. With the increasing complexity of emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence， it is difficult for a single firm’s closed innovation to break through containment technologies. Therefore， building and maintaining effective networks is gradually becoming a key factor in the success of corporate innovation. In the context of the new round of technological change， the production of high-quality products and breakthroughs in cutting-edge technology are increasingly inseparable from the cooperation of enterprises upstream and downstream of the supply chain. Individual competition among enterprises has gradually evolved into competition among supply chains. Based on the social network theory， the supply chain network is the result of the relationships that a firm establishes with its direct or indirect customers and suppliers. Therefore， the various strategic decision-making behaviors of an enterprise can be regarded as a function of its position in the supply chain network. A firm’s position in the supply chain network structure determines its ability to access knowledge and information. Core enterprises in the supply chain network can utilize their resource advantages to reduce the cost of knowledge acquisition and improve their innovation ability in the process of knowledge transfer. Then， the supply chain network location will inevitably affect the innovation diversity of the firms. The questions this paper focuses on are （1） Does supply chain network location affect the level of innovation diversity in a firm？ （2） If there is an effect， what is its mechanism？ （3） Under what circumstances will the effect be enhanced or weakened？ Answering the above questions is of great practical and theoretical significance for fully utilizing the innovation effect of supply chain networks.The social network analysis is adopted to construct a supply chain network with a sample of all A-share listed companies in China from 2008 to 2020. The relationship between supply chain network location and corporate innovation diversification is also discussed and tested. The results show that the closer to the center of the supply chain network， the higher the level of corporate innovation diversification. The mechanism test shows that supply chain network location can influence firms’ innovation diversification by broadening financing channels and enhancing absorptive capacity. Further analysis shows that the impact of supply chain network on firms’ innovation diversification is more significant in the sample of non-state-owned enterprises as well as in the manufacturing industry.The relationship between the location of supply chain network and the innovation diversity of enterprises is focused on by constructing the indicators of supply chain network and innovation diversity of enterprises， which expands the related literature on the innovation effect of supply chain network. The findings of the study not only provide policy references for enterprises to actively integrate supply chain network resources in order to achieve technological breakthroughs， but also provide a theoretical basis for the government to accelerate the digital transformation of supply chains.

Key words: supply chain network location, innovation diversity, financing constraints, absorptive capacity