Abstract
Enterprise innovation is an important longterm investment arrangement, which can not only help enterprises cultivate their core competitiveness, but also provide guarantee for longterm and stable growth of performance. But there are two key issues for innovation. One is how to ensure that enterprises can obtain enough economic benefits through innovation and that enterprises are willing to engage in innovation activities; the other is how to promote enterprise innovation. Enterprise innovation usually takes a long time, so a stable external environment is very important for an enterprise. Any significant change in the external environment may have a significant impact on the innovation activities of the enterprise. This paper selects two factors, namely, the risk of corporate litigation and the degree of financing constraints, and takes internal control and analyst following as internal and external supervision mechanisms into the framework to study their impact on enterprise innovation activities in detail.
In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, private enterprises have gradually become an important force in Chinas economic development. However, the development path of most private enterprises is not smooth, and many of them are facing serious financing constraints. At the same time, with the acceleration of the process of rule of law in China, the number of corporate litigation cases is increasing year by year. Litigation is often regarded as a relatively high cost way to resolve conflicts between stakeholders, which is an important risk that can not be ignored in company operation. When the company is faced with uncertain events such as litigation and arbitration, investors and creditors will make different degrees of risk aversion behavior, how to ensure the normal operation of the enterprise, maintain the basic cash flow,avoid financing costs inclination caused by the enterprise, all these are worth exploring. At the same time, if the risk of uncertainty increases suddenly, managers are likely to reduce the nonrigid investment, especially R&D expenditure, which will affect the innovation ability of enterprises.
Firstly,based on the theory of information asymmetry, this paper deduces the relationship among corporate litigation, analyst following and financing constraints.And, empirical tests are carried out according to the hypothesis to analyze and verify the impact of corporate litigation on financing constraints, as well as the relationship between corporate litigation and financing constraints. Through the group test of the transparency of corporate information and the defendants of litigation cases, this paper further explores the influence path of analysts following on the relationship between corporate litigation and financing constraints. The final conclusion is that corporate litigation will aggravate the financing constraints of private enterprises, and analysts following can alleviate the negative impact of corporate litigation on financing constraints, and play a positive and regulatory role. In addition, analysts following plays a more pronounced moderating role in the enterprises with low transparency and those with plaintiff in litigation cases. The research conclusion expands the relevant literature on the economic consequences of corporate litigation, enriches the research on the influencing factors of financing constraints of private enterprises, and further confirms the positive role of analysts following in alleviating financing constraints.
Secondly, on this basis,this paper tests the relationship between corporate litigation and enterprise innovation, that is, whether corporate litigation can inhibit enterprise innovation. Then, it explores whether financing constraints play an intermediary role in the relationship between corporate litigation and enterprise innovation, and whether corporate litigation inhibits enterprise innovation through financing constraints. And then, it explores whether the internal and external supervision mechanism can alleviate the negative effect of corporate litigation on enterprises micro behavior and financial decisionmaking. It is found that corporate litigation, as an uncertain event, will have a negative impact on the innovation activities of enterprises. Moreover, in the process of restraining enterprise innovation, there is a transmission path of “corporate litigation financing constraints enterprise innovation”. That is to say, financing constraints will have an intermediary effect in the process of corporate litigation in restraining enterprise innovation. In addition, analyst following and internal control, as internal and external supervision systems of enterprises, will alleviate the degree of information asymmetry and avoid adverse selection when enterprises are faced with external uncertain time such as corporate litigation, so as to improve the innovation ability of enterprises. This paper studies the influence path of corporate litigation on enterprise innovation, provides new solutions to improve enterprise innovation and ease financing constraints, and adds new evidence for analysts following to the role that can play in the development of enterprises.
Finally, according to the conclusions above, this paper puts forward some suggestions. It is hoped that governments and regulatory authorities can accelerate the implementation of relevant policies to support the innovation of private enterprises and create an external environment conducive to the innovation and development of enterprises. Besides, governments should continue to improve the construction of the capital market, promote financial innovation, diversify the financing channels of private enterprises, so as to effectively solve the problem of “financing difficulties and expensive financing” for private enterprises. At the same time, governments have to improve the supervision of enterprise information disclosure behavior, guide enterprises to carry out highquality information disclosure, standardize the operation of professional institutions and increase penalties for violating professional institutions and individuals. Moreover, private enterprises should improve the internal control system of enterprises, focus on the financing channels, capital investment direction and risk management of innovative activities, ensure that the relevant systems of innovative activities are well designed and operated, and provide guarantees for the smooth development of innovative activities of enterprises. In addition, enterprises should also comply with the relevant provisions of information disclosure, create a good external information environment, and pay attention to the maintenance of relations with stakeholders and their own reputation to reduce litigation risks. Finally, analysts should pay attention to the cultivation of their own professional capabilities, use emerging technologies to improve professional capabilities and work efficiency, and always adhere to professional ethics and comply with legal regulations and industry norms.
Key words: Legal Litigation; Financing constraints; Enterprise innovation; Analyst Following; Internal control