Corporate Innovation Along the Supply Chain
研究发现供应商与客户的地理邻近性会促进供应商创新，客户创新性、技术接近度和需求占比会增强这一效应，揭示了反馈和需求两种作用机制。
In this paper, we document a positive effect of supplier–customer geographic proximity on supplier innovation. To establish causality, we explore plausibly exogenous variation in proximity caused by customer relocations. The positive effect of supplier–customer proximity on supplier innovation is stronger when customers are more innovative themselves, when suppliers and customers are closer in technological space, and when customers’ demand accounts for a larger fraction of suppliers’ total sales. These findings suggest that the feedback channel and the demand channel are likely underlying mechanisms through which supplier–customer proximity affects supplier innovation. Overall, our paper sheds new light on the real effect of supplier–customer relationship on corporate innovation. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.