Genetic variation in innovation genes and strategic emerging firm performance: Empirical evidence from the catalytic role of government subsidies

Against the dual backdrop of the innovation-driven development strategy and the cultivation of new-quality productive forces, deciphering the "genetic code" of the innovation capabilities of strategic emerging enterprises has become the key to breaking through the bottlenecks in industrial upgrading. This paper deconstructs the capabilities of corporate innovation genes, takes strategic emerging enterprises from 2013 to 2023 as research samples, and studies the inheritance and mutation effects of innovation genes on corporate performance. Specifically, it uses 120 strategic emerging enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2013 to 2023 as samples, and adopts the two-way fixed effects model and mediating effect test to systematically analyze the inheritance and mutation mechanism of innovation genes and the catalytic effect of government subsidies. The research findings are as follows: (1) The coefficient of the impact of the technological gene chain of innovation genes on corporate performance is 0.1037; (2) Government subsidies significantly improve the expression efficiency of genes related to growth capabilities and innovation management capabilities; (3) Gene mutation reorganizes factors such as R&D investment through the "competitiveness intermediary", thereby increasing the performance growth rate; (4) The expression of the institutional gene chain is stronger in state-owned enterprises, while the mutation of the technological gene chain is more active in private enterprises. Based on these findings, this paper puts forward targeted strategies for improving corporate performance, aiming to help strategic emerging enterprises achieve a leap in their competitive niche.