University-Industry Collaboration, Innovation and firm performance As a part of the researcher’s PhD project, this study focused on the collaboration between firms and universities, trying to explore how does this collaboration create innovation for firms, as well as how does it improve the performance of firms. We invite you to provide information of your firms in general performance, collaboration with universities and innovation activities. We promise all information provided will be used only for academic research, not for other purpose. We are looking for employees who sit in the middle/top management of manufacturing enterprises located in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang province. The reason you have been chosen to participate in this survey is the information you provided for registration of sample pool is considered by WJX the best fit to our sampling criterion. It is up to you to decide whether to take part. If you do decide to take part, you will be given this information sheet to read. You can withdraw from participation at any time and without giving a reason, simply by closing the browser page. Please note that once you have completed and submitted your survey responses, we are unable to remove your anonymised responses from the study. Deciding to take part or not will not impact upon you. It may take approximately 10 minutes to complete this questionnaire. Whilst there are no immediate benefits for those people participating in the project, it is hoped that this work will help to explore the connections between university-industry collaboration and innovation performance of firms. Participation in this study is on the basis of consent: you do not have to complete the survey, and you can change your mind at any point before submitting the survey responses. We will use your data on the basis that it is necessary for the conduct of research, which is an activity in the public interest. We put safeguards in place to ensure that your responses are kept secure and only used as necessary for this research study and associated activities. All research data collected for the purposes of this study will be deleted from WJX after downloaded by the researcher. The information collected may be used in an anonymous form to support other research projects in the future. It will not be possible for you to be identified from this data, we won’t be able to contact you for any purpose. The Information you provided will be collected and temporarily retained by WJX in anonymised form before the researcher delete it from WJX. For the Data Privacy Policy of WJX, please visit: https://www.wjx.cn/wjx/license.aspx. The Anonymised data will be added to BU’s Data Repository (a central location where data is stored), which will be publicly available after this study has finished. Please note that as the data required involves your organisation’s information, you must have the authority from your organisation to complete this questionnaire. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact: ylu@bournemouth.ac.uk Any concerns about the study should be directed to groushan@bournemouth.ac.uk. If you concerns have not been answered by, you should contact the Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University by email to researchgovernance@bournemouth.ac.uk. By submitting your responses, it means you understand the above information and agree to participate in this survey. Thank you! 1. General Information Please describe your position: Middle Management ___ Top Management ___ Name of the enterprise _______________________ Registered address (only province and city) ____________________________ Registration year ______________ Main product _____________________________ 1.1 Please provide the following information of your enterprise in the end of 2018: (in 10,000 RMB) Total Revenue ___________ Total Profit ___________ Average number of employees ____________ 1.2 For the past three years (2016-2018), how would you evaluate the performance of your enterprise (1, very low; 5 very high): very low low medium high Very high Sales Revenue Profitability Market Shares Productivity 1.3 For the past three years (2016-2018), how would you evaluate the impact of general economy environment on the performance of your enterprise (1, no impact; 5, huge impact)? (General economy environment mainly considers the macro economy factors, including market demands, policy, Sino-China trade dispute….) No impact Minor impact Medium impact Major impact Huge impact General environment 1.4 For the past three years (2016-2018), how was the absorptive capacity of your enterprise (1, strongly disagree; 5, strongly agree)? Strongly disagree disagree medium agree Strongly agree We can quickly acquire information about customer needs/advance technology in our industry We can quickly assimilate the newly acquired information/knowledge We have established procedure for effectively apply the assimilated external knowledge We can quickly introduce product/process innovation with new knowledge We can quickly introduce management/marketing innovation with new knowledge 1.5 For the past three years (2016-2018), what was the average R&D intensity of your firms? (R&D investment/sales revenue) (1, <5%; 5,>15%) No R&D expenses <5% 5-10% 10-15% >15% 2. University Collaboration 2.1 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever engaged in the interactions with university/universities? (The forms of U-I interaction can be variety and flexible. The social activities between staffs, recruitment of graduates, establishment of joint ventures…. It includes any interactions from individual level or institutional level) Yes _____ No _____ 2.2 Please fill in the name of the university which has the closest relationship with your enterprise. _____________________________ 2.3 For the past three years (2016-2018), please evaluate the frequency or duration of following interaction activities with university (1, none; 5, very often): Based on the nature of activities, they can be classified as: very often (or long term), regularly (comparatively long term), sometimes (comparatively short term), rarely (short term) and no. none rarely sometimes regularly Very often Social activities with university staff Academic forums/conference held by university Joint PGR supervision Students internship Graduates recruitment University staff secondment (part-time job/consultant) Training programme 2.4 For the past three years (2016-2018), please evaluate the frequency or duration of following interaction activities with university (1, none; 5, very often): none rarely sometimes regularly Very often Consultancy service provided by university research grant/ scholarship Joint/contract research Patent/licence transaction Use of university facilities (e.g. labs, offices, science park) Joint venture establishment 3. Innovation 3.1 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced technological innovation? (product innovation/ process innovation) Yes ____ No ____ 3.1.1 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced product innovation? (if so, please evaluate the radicalness, 1, none; 5, new to world) (Product Innovation refers to new or significantly improved products. it must be the first time introduced by your enterprise) none New to firm New to regional market New to national market New to world New product 3.1.2 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced process innovation? (if so, please evaluate the radicalness) (1, none; 5, new to world) (Process innovation refers to new method of manufacturing, new production supporting activities such as procurement, accounting and software etc.) none New to firm New to regional market New to national market New to world New method of manufacturing New supporting activities such as purchasing, logistics, accounting 3.2 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced management innovation? (organisational innovation/ marketing innovation) Yes ____ No ____ 3.2.1 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced organisational innovation? (if so, please evaluate the importance to your firm, 1, none; 5 very important) (Organisational Innovation refers to new business practice, new organisational structure and new external relationship with others) none Not important Less important important Very important New business practice New organisational structure New external relationship 3.2.2 For the past three years (2016-2018), has your enterprise ever introduced marketing innovation? (if so, please evaluate the importance to your firm, 1, none; 5 very important) (Marketing innovation refers to new packaging, new promotion method, new sales channels and new pricing strategy) none Not important Less important important Very important New packaging New method of promotion New sales channel New pricing strategy