Technological innovation and stable customer relationships are both important factors for the sustainable development of enterprises. However, it remains unclear whether there is a relationship between stable customer relationships and technological innovation. In this work, we manually collected data regarding customer relationships and the innovation of manufacturing companies listed in the A-Share index in China from 2009 to 2016. Through empirical analysis, this work used a two-way fixed effect model and intermediary effect model tests to explore the impact of stable customer relationships on technological innovation. The empirical research found the following. (1) Stable customer relationships significantly promote the technological innovation of enterprises, and the empirical results are still valid after a variety of robust tests. The competitive advantage of enterprises forms a part of the intermediary role in the relationship above. (2) Comparing the samples of large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, mature enterprises, and low-capital-intensive enterprises, the research found that stable customer relationships can significantly promote corporate technological innovation in small-scale enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises, young enterprises, and highly capital-intensive enterprises. This article enriches and deepens our understanding of the mechanism by which stable customer relationships affect enterprises’ technological innovation. At the same time, this research is helpful for better evaluating the impact of establishing a stable customer relationship on the sustainable competitive advantage of enterprises.

PurposeThis paper examines whether and how customers' annual report tone affects suppliers' innovation decisions.Design/methodology/approachUsing the data from disclosed information on top five customers and annual report tone by Chinese listed firms, this paper used a two-way fixed effect model and intermediary effect model tests to explore the impact of customers' annual report tone on suppliers' innovation decisions.FindingsThe results indicate that the more positive the tone of customer annual reports is, the higher the suppliers' technological innovation level. The customers' annual report tone affects suppliers' innovation decisions through alleviating financing constraints and reducing the bullwhip effect. In addition, the authors find that the worse the supplier's bargaining power and the higher the customer's media coverage, the more significant the impact of positive customer annual report tone on the level of corporate technological innovation.Practical implicationsFor downstream customers, to improve the quality of their text information disclosure. For upstream suppliers, the tone of customers' annual reports has incremental information, so the attention to customers' text information should be strengthened. As far as the market is concerned, it is recommended that regulators should strictly require the quality of text information disclosure and introduce relevant penalty mechanisms better to regulate the quality of corporate text information disclosure.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to expand the research related to textual information from a supply chain innovation perspective. The textual information can provide incremental information, and spillover effects may occur among supply chains, affecting suppliers' innovation decisions. And it clarifies the specific mechanism by which the supply chain tone spillover effect affects corporate innovation, enriching the relevant research on supply chain influence mechanisms.

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