生产率困境的形成与治理机制：一个新的理论框架

生产率困境是创新经济学、战略管理、运营管理和组织科学关注的中心问题之一。然而,这方面的文献分散在不同的研究领域中,因而,迄今为止,这方面的知识是碎片化的。以1978年到2018年间的225篇文献为样本,本文系统地考察了生产率困境的形成机制和治理方式。首先,本文描述了这方面文献的演进脉络,进而形成了3个不同但是互补的研究视角。然后,从这3个视角出发,本文分析了生产率困境的前因后果。最后,将这3个视角综合起来,我们发展了一个关于生产率困境的综合性的理论框架,系统地揭示了生产率困境的形成机制和治理方式。研究结果表明,在给定的技术范式下,技术发展存在自然和经济的极限,因而,生产率的增长最终会缓慢下来。重要的是,由于效率-创新冲突的存在,企业对生产率的追求使得它们不具有通过颠覆式创新推动技术范式转换的激励。进一步,即使企业具有这种激励,它们在追求效率的过程中发展起来的核心能力变成了核心粘性,因而失去了颠覆式创新的能力。于是,企业对短期生产率的追求反过来使得它们难以突破生产率增长的极限,进而长期锁定在生产率困境中。

Formation and Governance Mechanism of Productivity Dilemma:An Integrated Theoretical Framework

Productivity dilemma is one of the central issues of innovation economics, strategic management, op-eration management and organizational science. However, this literature is scattered in interconnected yet different do-mains. As a result, this body of research is fragmented. The fragmentation of research not only limits its potential foradvancing management studies, but also mitigates its effects upon management practice.This paper reviews and organizes the fragmented literature to provide a systematic understanding of productivitydilemma. Firstly, drawing upon 225 important documents between 1978 and 2018, this paper describes the evolutionof the literature on productivity dilemma in the past 40 years. The evolution indicates that, despite this fragmentation,three distinct perspectives are discerned within the literature: external environment perspective, firm-level inertia per-spective and firm-level capability perspective. Then, from each perspective, this paper reveals the key elements ofthe formation of productivity dilemma as well as corresponding governance approach.Secondly, beyond the ordinary literature review, this paper has developed a theoretical framework for productivi-ty dilemma, which takes a small step forward in analyzing the mechanism of the formation and governance of produc-tivity dilemma. Due to the challenge of productivity dilemma to theory and practice, Journal of Operations Manage-ment organized leading scholars to discuss this phenomenon in 2009. Like previous literature, that discussion focusedon the efficiency-innovation conflict, which was viewed as a general concept for productivity dilemma. By taking intoaccount both the technology and demand S-curves, this paper shows that, only when the technology development ap-proaches its natural or economic limits, will the efficiency-innovation conflict damage the long-term effectiveness offirms. The reason behind this is that firms need to transform their technology paradigm at that time, but efficiency-in-novation conflict abates their incentives for disruptive innovation. Furthermore, drawing upon the perspective of capa-bility life cycle, this paper also shows that over-specialization resulting from the pursuit of efficiency will underminefirms’ capability to implement disruptive innovation. Due to lack of necessary ability, firms will be locked in the pro-ductivity dilemma. In a word, by integrating the technology and demand S-curves, efficiency-innovation conflict andcapability life cycle, this paper offers a more complete, more accurate and more systematic theoretical framework,which shows the formation and governance mechanism of productivity dilemma. Also, this framework indicates currentchallenges and future research directions in the field of productivity dilemma.Finally, this paper has implications for public policy and management practice. Once firms fall into productivitydilemma, two types of disequilibrium measures can be used to break the dilemma: one is the strong competition poli-cy of the government, which destroys the value of existing technology; the other is deliberate self-disturbance of firmswhen their technology enters maturity. These two measures will force firms to implement disruptive innovation, andpropel them to escape from productivity dilemma.