The Structural Dimensions of Involution Competition among Enterprises and Its Impact on Ambidextrous Innovation

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_85How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Involution-type Competition; Ambidextrous Innovation; Exploratory Innovation; Exploitative Innovation

Abstract

In recent years, the global economic landscape has become increasingly complex, and domestic market demand in China has declined, leading to a growing trend of “involution-type” competition among Chinese enterprises. Such competition not only reduces overall industry efficiency but also severely restricts firms’ innovation capabilities. Against this backdrop, this study explores the impact mechanisms of involution-type competition on ambidextrous innovation—comprising exploratory and exploitative innovation. Drawing on existing research, the study conceptualizes involution-type competition as consisting of four dimensions: inefficient input, short-term orientation, homogeneous behavior, and disorderly competition. The findings indicate that these behaviors have complex and differentiated effects on ambidextrous innovation. While some aspects may marginally promote short-term exploitative innovation, they tend to significantly inhibit long-term exploratory innovation, thereby undermining firms’ sustainable competitiveness. Based on these insights, the paper proposes strategic and policy recommendations to mitigate involution-type competition and balance short-term gains with long-term innovation, offering theoretical grounding and practical guidance for enterprise transformation and industrial environment optimization.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xuan Liu
AU  - Haowei Zheng
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/26
TI  - The Structural Dimensions of Involution Competition among Enterprises and Its Impact on Ambidextrous Innovation
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 3rd International Conference on Digital Economy and Management Science (CDEMS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 752
EP  - 759
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_85
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-770-0_85
ID  - Liu2025
ER  -