4.1. Necessity Analysis
Initially, this study performed a necessity analysis using fsQCA 3.0 to investigate the necessity of high enterprise growth for each condition.
Table 5 illustrates that none of the antecedent conditions meet the consistency threshold (0.90), suggesting that the necessary conditions for inducing high enterprise growth are absent.
The QCA method has the capacity to solely assess, in a qualitative manner, whether an antecedent variable is essential to produce a given outcome. NCA cannot only discriminate the necessity of the conditions but also quantitatively analyze the degree of an antecedent variable to generate the outcome [
14]. The second step uses NCA to help us answer the question, “What level of the antecedent condition (such as political strategy) should be if an enterprise wishes to reach a certain growth level?” The necessity analysis in NCA differs significantly from that of fsQCA. Therefore, NCA and QCA do not contradict each other; in contrast, they complement each other. Additionally, NCA differs from QCA necessity analysis and should not be used for robustness tests [
75]. Necessity analysis was performed using the software R 4.2.1 with the NCA package. Calibrated and raw data can both be used in NCA [
14]. Given that calibrated configuration data are more meaningful and consistent with the established relationship [
76], we used calibrated data in NCA.
An XY scatter plot features a ceiling line, with the area above the ceiling line (i.e., the upper left corner) indicating that low levels of X cannot correspond to high levels of Y [
77]. The scatter plots with ceiling lines are represented in
Figure 3. The proportion of space in the upper left quadrant with respect to the total observational space signifies the extent to which X is bound to Y. A greater spatial extent indicates a higher degree of constraint of Y by X [
77]. The Ceiling Envelopment-Free Disposal Hull (CE-FDH) and Ceiling Regression-Free Disposal Hull (CR-FDH) techniques are two approaches employed by NCA to construct ceiling contours.
NCA conducts an analysis of the effect sizes and significance of antecedent conditions to identify the necessary conditions. Additionally, bottleneck level analysis is utilized to evaluate the necessary level values of these antecedent conditions. The effect size (d) is typically measured on a scale of 0 to 1, with values below 0.1 indicating a relatively small effect [
14]. Furthermore, NCA conducts Monte Carlo simulations of permutation tests to assess the statistical significance of the results [
77].
Table 6 presents the outcomes of the necessary analysis conducted by NCA for individual conditions using CR-FDH and CE-FDH. The table displays the c-accuracy, ceiling zone, scope, effect size, and
p-value for each condition. In accordance with the necessary condition of NCA, two requirements must be met: first, the effect size (d) must be greater than or equal to 0.1 [
14], and second, the Monte Carlo simulations of permutation tests must indicate that the effect size is statistically significant [
77]. The findings of NCA analysis reveal that political
guanxi, business
guanxi, exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, environmental dynamism, and environmental munificence have effect sizes (d) that are below 0.1, thereby indicating that they do not qualify as necessary conditions for enterprise growth.
Furthermore, the outcomes of the bottleneck level analysis are presented in
Table 7. The table provides information on the required levels (%) of the condition(s) for various levels (%) of the outcome [
78]. As illustrated in
Table 7, to attain a 90% level of enterprise growth, a 10.1% level of business strategy and an 8.1% level of exploratory innovation are necessary, while there are no bottleneck levels for the other four antecedent conditions.
4.2. Configuration Analysis of Sufficiency Conditions
The combination of conditions associated with a given outcome is referred to as configuration. It may correspond to one, more than one, or no empirical case(s). This paper selected causal conditions and outcome of the model using the fuzzy set truth table algorithm function of fsQCA 3.0 software after necessity analysis, and then the truth table was automatically generated. In this paper, the following threshold criteria were established for configuration analysis to eliminate explanatory variables that may be sufficient for the outcome: The determination of the frequency threshold needs to follow the sample scale. The frequency threshold for cases was set to 1 to retain all observable configurations for this study’s small and medium sample design (N < 50). Consistency is used for measuring “the degree to which instances of an outcome agree in displaying the causal condition”. A criterion for choosing a threshold corresponds to an observed break in the distribution of consistency scores [
79]. Following this approach, we used a threshold value of 0.959; we also applied PRI (proportional reduction in inconsistency) to reduce potentially contradictory configurations, using the recommended criterion of 0.7 [
80], and manually updated the truth table rows with PRI below 0.7 to 0.
The data were processed using these criteria to obtain the truth table rows that fulfill the conditions and the corresponding configurational paths.
Table 8 displays the results of a configurational analysis of the six conditions that have driven the NTBVs’ growth. Following [
62], the results were presented with a “⬤” indicating the presence of the antecedent condition in the configuration and a “⊗” indicating the absence of the antecedent condition in the configuration. Large circles denote core conditions, small circles denote peripheral conditions, and a blank space denotes that the presence or absence of conditions does not matter.
The findings indicate the existence of four pathways that lead to enterprise growth. Each column in the table represents a unique conditional configuration that corresponds to one of the four identified pathways. The solution consistency is 0.970803, indicating that approximately 97.1% of the NTBV growth cases that meet the specified configurations exhibit a relatively high level of growth. The solution coverage is 0.763271, which implies that approximately 76% of the high enterprise growth cases can be interpreted using these configurations. The empirical analysis can be deemed valid as both the solution consistency and the coverage of the solutions exceed the threshold values.
By analyzing the condition configurations, it is possible to discern the distinctive adaptive interplay among the guanxi strategy, innovation strategy, and external environment in propelling enterprise growth. Specifically, in S1a and S1b, the “guanxi strategy” and “innovation strategy” factors constitute the core conditions. That is, the enterprise can achieve the integration of “conformity” and “distinctiveness”. First, S1a (PG*BG*ERI*EM) indicates that in a more munificent external environment (peripheral condition), NTBVs can achieve high-level growth through conducting political guanxi (core condition), business guanxi (peripheral condition) and exploratory innovation (core condition). This pathway can explain about 63.3% of high-level growth cases, among which about 20.8% can be exclusively explained using the pathway. The typical case of S1a is XKND Ltd. XKND is an incubated NTBV focused on the R&D and production of Sodium-ion batteries and energy storage technology development. As a sole subsidiary of an electric power engineering construction enterprise, XKND receives necessary and abundant support from the very beginning, including but not limited to plant, machinery, equipment, R&D, and technical personnel. Moreover, XKND inherits the local political and business relationships, enabling XKND to gain sufficient financial and innovative resources to grow. Until now, XKND has realized the mass production of Sodium-ion batteries, indicating an absolute potential for growth for the enterprise and the industry.
Secondly, S1b (PG*ERI*EII*~ED*EM) indicates that in a relatively stable (peripheral condition) and munificent (peripheral condition) external environment, NTBVs can achieve high-level growth through conducting political guanxi (core condition), exploratory innovation (core condition), and exploitative innovation (peripheral condition). This pathway can explain about 40.1% of high-level growth cases, among which about 3% can be exclusively explained using the pathway. The typical case of S1b is STIT Tech Ltd. STIT, a scientific and technological innovation NTBV focusing on urban public transport travel information services and “Internet+ Transport.” “Internet+” and “Digital Transformation” have been well-stressed in recent years in China, which forms a relatively stable and supporting environment for STIT to grow. At the same time, owing to a good relationship with the local government (Suzhou, Jiangsu) and alum association, STIT gains much support and invests abundant innovative resources in intelligent transportation equipment and services products such as new energy supervision, charging pile operation management, intelligent vehicle terminal, and vehicle gateway. Currently focused and specialized in market segments, STIT has become a local star NTBV with continuously growing new products and services.
There is a mutual substitution effect between business
guanxi and “exploitative innovation + ~ environmental dynamism in the two pathways dominated by political
guanxi and exploratory innovation”. In other words, when NTBVs form good business
guanxi and carry out exploratory innovation in a more munificent external environment, as long as they meet one single condition of good political
guanxi or meet both conditions of implementing exploitative innovation actively and are in a stable external environment, they can achieve growth (see
Figure 4).
S2 (~PG*~BG*ERI*EII*ED*EM) indicates that in a dynamic (peripheral condition) and munificent (peripheral condition) external environment, NTBVs can achieve high-level growth by conducting exploratory innovation (peripheral condition) and exploitative innovation (peripheral condition), even if they lack or fail to form political guanxi (peripheral condition) and business guanxi (core condition). According to the compensatory orchestration perspective of optimal distinctiveness theory, the excess return of one dimension can make up for the lack of other dimensions. From this theoretical perspective, NTBVs in a dynamic and munificent external environment are more likely to obtain resources needed for enterprise growth from the external environment, such as new market opportunities and necessary industry-supporting technologies, products, and market channels. In addition, the strategic advantages of exploratory and exploitative innovation can also help NTBVs win by competing, thus making up for the lack of political and market guanxi dimensions. This pathway can explain about 39.3% of high-level growth cases, among which about 5.4% can be exclusively explained using the pathway. The typical case is TJLY Tech Ltd. TJLY was established in 2017 as a liquid metal thermal management application supplier. Liquid metal is seen as a frontier new material and is valued by the government and business, which creates a rather positive atmosphere and forms an ever-increasing and supportive environment for TJLY. Due to the liabilities of newness, TJLY does not have either enough time or channels to build too many political and business ties in the first place. However, it is worth mentioning that TJLY is an academic entrepreneurial spin-off with solid research and development strengths. TJLY accumulates hundreds of technologies, possesses a liquid metal material preparation process system, and has become a leading enterprise in the industrial application of liquid metal products in China.
S3 (~PG*BG*ERI*EII*ED*~EM) indicates that in a dynamic (peripheral condition) and less munificent (core condition) external environment, NTBVs can achieve high-level growth by forming business guanxi (peripheral condition) and conducting exploratory innovation (peripheral condition) and exploitative innovation (peripheral condition), even if they lack or fail to form political guanxi (peripheral condition). According to the compensatory orchestration perspective of optimal distinctiveness theory, enterprises implementing business guanxi and innovation strategy in dynamic environments can compensate for the deficiencies in political and environmental munificence. Such enterprises can combine market opportunities and innovation strategy to take full advantage of their innovative strengths to accurately grasp their possible strategic opportunities. In addition, business guanxi can help enterprises increase the likelihood of accessing resources in a competitive market while reducing the uncertainty they face in their operations, which can, to a certain extent, reduce their dependence on political guanxi and environmental munificence. This pathway can explain about 38.5% of high-level growth cases, among which about 4.6% can be exclusively explained using the pathway. The typical case is HHSC Tech Ltd. HHSC is an equipment manufacturing service provider in the semiconductor equipment sector. As is known, the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment sectors are dynamic and high-end sectors in China. Typically, only the head enterprises can attract resources and support from investors and institutions, especially those with government backgrounds. Consequently, non-state-owned, medium-sized enterprises like HHSC usually gain limited support from the environment and must rely solely on their efforts to grow. Thus, HHSC turned to promoting innovative capabilities and forming increasing business ties. Now, HHSC has established a service system integrating research and development, production, sales, and after-sales of semiconductor transmission equipment and core components, which received recognition from its business partners such as CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation), ACM Research, and Texas Instruments.