The Growth of SRDI Enterprises: A Review and Prospects

Zeng Xianju, Zeng Kai, Ren Hui, Cao Chunhui

Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 46, Issue 01, pp. 62 - 76 (2024)  DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20230912.101

Summary

SRDI enterprises refer to small and medium-sized enterprises with specialized, refined, differentiated, innovative characteristics, focusing on high-quality products or services that can provide differentiated advantages in a specific niche, committed to gaining market share and innovation capabilities in both domestic and global niche fields. The growth of SRDI enterprises is of great significance in solving the “bottleneck” problem of key core technologies in China and strengthening the resilience of the regional industrial chain. However, existing literature is still stuck in the stage of practical observation, experience sorting, and fragmented research, and there is an urgent need to systematically sort it out from a theoretical perspective. The “hidden champions” that have been studied for a long time also provide theoretical reference for them. This paper systematically reviews the literature on SRDI enterprises and hidden champions published in high-quality journals. Firstly, by integrating the research on SRDI enterprises and hidden champions, it analyzes the characteristics, connotations, and important similarities and differences between SRDI “little giants”, “niche champions” in the manufacturing industry, and hidden champions. Secondly, based on the analysis of the driving factors, mechanisms, performance characterization, systemic impact, and research methods of the growth of SRDI enterprises, it constructs an integrated analysis framework drawing on the research results of hidden champions. Finally, it proposes future research topics for the growth of SRDI enterprises from the macro policy environment level, meso regional and network level, and micro enterprise level, as well as how to link them. This paper helps to further enrich and expand the theory of the growth of SRDI enterprises in the context of the coexistence of “practical enrichment” and “research depression”, providing theoretical inspiration and experience reference for their high-quality development.

Keywords

SRDI enterprise; growth of enterprise; hidden champion; literature review