Original title: Technology Push or Demand Pull? Supply-Chain AI Spillovers and the Quality of Green Innovation Toward Sustainable Production in Chinese Listed Firms
The researchers study whether AI used by one firm spreads through its supply chain and affects other firms’ green patents. They measure patent quality by how often other patents cite them. AI exposure is linked to higher-quality green innovation, especially green invention patents rather than utility models. AI coming from suppliers usually matters more than AI coming from customers, but the balance changes when suppliers are dispersed. The effect works through technology transferred between firms, not through firms’ own research and development.
Imagine cooking a meal with ingredients from several shops. If you depend on just a few shops, a change in one supplier can shape what you cook; if you have many alternatives, customers’ requests may matter more. In this paper, suppliers are the shops, firms are the cooks, and AI spreading through those links is the influence that can shape the quality of green inventions.
Companies and policymakers can use AI’s position in supply chains to support stronger green inventions, not just more green patents. The study finds that AI spreading from suppliers matters most when firms rely on concentrated suppliers, while customer-side influence can matter more when suppliers are dispersed.
The abstract covers Chinese A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2023, so it does not establish that the same patterns hold in other countries, firms, or periods. It reports statistical effects identified with a shift-share instrument, but gives no effect sizes or details about the instrument’s assumptions. It does not establish that the findings apply to every measure of green innovation or sustainability.
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Technology Push or Demand Pull? Supply-Chain AI Spillovers and the Quality of Green Innovation Toward Sustainable Production in Chinese Listed Firms — Shaoxuan Dong, Tong Li — Sustainability — doi:10.3390/su181910169
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.