摘要
由中外技术标准差异引发的制度压力是中国国际工程企业跨国经营时普遍面临的重要挑战。本文选取中国电建在6个典型国家市场中应对技术标准压力的成功实践进行案例研究。基于制度理论,构建了“技术标准压力+制度距离”理论框架,分析了技术标准压力策略选择的组合性特征和内在规律。研究发现,企业在策略选择时会经历“碰撞—动态博弈—策略定型”的过程。在较大技术标准压力下,无论制度距离较大还是较小,企业会优先采取“适应为主,折中为辅”的效率型策略;在面临较小技术标准压力和较大制度距离时,企业会优先采取“折中为主,引导为辅”的平衡型策略;在面临较小技术标准压力和较小制度距离时,企业会优先采取“引导为主,折中为辅”的利润型策略。
With the initiation of the“Belt and Road”initiative,Chinese international engineering enterprises have played a crucial role in advancing international infrastructure connectivity and promoting the“go global”strategy for Chinese products and technologies.However,in their cross-border operations,these enterprises must not only overcome multiple disadvantages and identity conf licts in host country markets,but also tackle numerous complex issues related to the application of technical standards.They even face performance risks and legal challenges arising from differences in domestic and international technical standards.As market dominance lies in the hands of standard setters,promoting the international adoption of Chinese standards has become an urgent and strategically significant task,especially as economic globalization and the high-quality development phase of the“Belt and Road”initiative continue to unfold.How to effectively address the pressure of technical standards in overseas engineering projects and actively promote Chinese standards has become a common challenge for Chinese international engineering enterprises.According to institutional theory,international engineering enterprises operate within the technical institutional environment of the host country,where they are required to comply with the technical standards demanded by local stakeholders.Adhering to these standards is a key element in fulfilling contracts and securing market legitimacy.However,in practice,many enterprises struggle to understand and adapt to the differences in standards between their home country and the host country,leading to decreased efficiency and even conflicts.The differences in technical standards between countries essentially represent institutional differences.Existing literature on institutional theory has examined the sources,coping strategies,and effects of institutional pressure,but most studies treat institutions as a unified concept,overlooking the unique and critical institutional context of technical standards.In contrast to political,economic,and legal institutions,which tend to be more mandatory and relatively stable,the selection and implementation of technical standards are characterized by greater diversity,flexibility,and technicality.They also involve complex attitudes and behaviors from multiple stakeholders.These unique characteristics necessitate that enterprises pay more attention to the complex and dynamic technical contexts when responding to challenges posed by technical standards.However,no research has yet explored how institutional distance influences the strategic choices of enterprises when facing technical standard pressures.Therefore,due to the lack of focus on the technical dimension,existing institutional theory offers insufficient theoretical explanations and practical guidance on the strategies for responding to technical standard pressures.This paper,based on institutional theory,investigates the issue of technical standard pressure faced by Chinese international engineering enterprises in their cross-border operations.It focuses on the following question:How do international engineering enterprises choose coping strategies when confronted with technical standard pressures in overseas projects?To address this question,the paper conducts a case study of China Power Construction's successful practices in six typical country markets,summarizing the intrinsic patterns in the selection of coping strategies for technical standard pressures within the framework of“technical standard pressure+institutional distance.”The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)International engineering enterprises face a large number of complex technical standard application demands,and different dominant strategies exist under different contexts.Four strategies for responding to technical standard pressure are identified:avoidance,adaptation,compromise,and guidance.(2)This paper reveals the combinatory characteristics of enterprise strategies in response to technical standard pressures in the context of“technical standard pressure+institutional distance”:When facing significant technical standard pressure,enterprises are more inclined to adopt an efficiency-oriented strategy of“adaptation as the primary strategy,with compromise as a secondary strategy,”regardless of whether there is a large or small institutional distance.When facing smaller technical standard pressure and a larger institutional distance,enterprises tend to adopt a balanced strategy of“compromise as the primary strategy,with guidance as a secondary strategy.”However,when facing smaller technical standard pressure and a smaller institutional distance,enterprises are more inclined to adopt a profit-oriented strategy of“guidance as the primary strategy,with compromise as a secondary strategy.”(3)The selection of strategies to address technical standard pressures typically undergoes a process of“collision-dynamic game-strategy formation.”Enterprises need to adjust their strategies for dealing with standard differences in a timely manner,shifting from passive to active,and through dynamic negotiation with key stakeholders,ultimately determining a relatively stable strategy through iterative optimization to successfully overcome technical standard pressures.The main theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows:(1)This paper contributes to institutional theory research in the context of technical standard pressures.International business studies based on institutional theory typically treat institutions as a generalized concept,focusing more on political,economic,legal,and cultural dimensions,while not giving enough attention to the important dimension of technical standards.This paper focuses on the technical standard pressures faced by enterprises in cross-border operations,constructs the“technical standard pressure+institutional distance”-contextual analysis framework,and explores the strategic choices of enterprises within this framework.(2)In contrast to institutional isomorphism research,which emphasizes adherence to existing institutional norms,this paper finds that international engineering enterprises,due to economic benefits and organizational inertia,are motivated to adopt strategies such as adaptation,guidance,and compromise,even when contracts are in place.They seek to influence key stakeholders in order to change existing technical institutional arrangements.(3)This paper enriches the study of technical standard issues in the context of China.While many scholars have made useful explorations of technical standards issues in the context of Chinese enterprises“going global,”no studies have yet explored how enterprises adapt to and overcome the pressures caused by differences in domestic and foreign technical standards from the perspective of institutional theory.Based on the technical standard pressures faced by Chinese enterprises involved in the“Belt and Road”international engineering projects,this paper distills three combined strategies for responding to technical standard pressures and their applicable conditions,addressing the shortcomings of existing research on standardization issues mainly focusing on enterprise standardization contexts.This provides theoretical support for Chinese enterprises to enhance their legitimacy in cross-border operations and for the“going global”strategy of Chinese standards.
作者
沈文欣
刘扬
雷振
唐文哲
Wenxin;Liu Yang;Lei Zhen;Tang Wenzhe(School of Economic and Management,Beijing Jiaotong University;Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China;China Three Gorges(Europe)S.A;Institute of Project Management and Construction Technology,Tsinghua University)
出处
《南开管理评论》
2025年第1期103-112,共10页
Nankai Business Review
基金
国家自然科学基金项目 (72201027、72171128)
清华大学水沙科学与水利水电工程国家重点实验室项目(2022-KY-04)资助。
关键词
技术标准
国际工程
企业国际化
制度距离
Technical Standards
Firms Internationalization
Institutional Pressure
Institutional Distance
International Construction
