Chinese firms urgently need to use open innovation models to access external knowledge, resources, and skills to improve their internal innovation performance and achieve innovation catch-up. Using a dataset of joint patent applications of Chinese-listed manufacturing firms from 2006–2018, we construct a panel fixed-effects model to empirically test the effect of dynamic capabilities on firms’ open innovation. The results show that dynamic capabilities can effectively promote firms’ open innovation activities. In addition, the different dimensions of dynamic capabilities, namely sense capabilities, absorptive capabilities, complementary capabilities, and coordinative capabilities, also have significant incentive effects on firms’ open innovation. The results of the extended analysis show that dynamic capabilities have heterogeneous effects on the open innovation activities of different types of firms. Specifically, the impact of dynamic capabilities on open innovation is stronger for private firms, large and medium-sized firms, and multinational firms. The findings of this paper can provide important theoretical support and management insights for governments and enterprises to effectively manage the “paradox of openness” problem, thereby enhancing the firm’s innovation capability and achieving major bottleneck breakthroughs in key and core technologies.

Carbon risk may have potential influences on the green transition of enterprises. This paper thoroughly investigates the effect and mechanism of carbon risk on the transition towards sustainability. We use quantitative regression models and a panel of Chinese manufactural listed companies from 2011-2020. There is strong evidence manifesting that the effect of carbon risk on corporate green transition is positive and statistically significant. The green transition is marked by the overall encouragement of exploratory, exploitable, autonomous, and collaborative green innovation. The mechanism test indicates that the enhancement of internal R&D transformation and the pressure of external stakeholders are two fundamental pathways by which carbon risk influences the green transition. Additional examination reveals that the beneficial impact is particularly noticeable for companies that have limited capital intensity, minimal governmental assistance, reduced financial limitations, and are state-owned enterprises. These results are robust to resolve the problem of endogeneity by means of instrumental variables, Heckman two-step, placebo test, propensity score matching and difference-in-difference ways. Against the background of carbon neutrality, it is of great significance to examine the relationship between carbon risk and corporate green transition. The conclusion complements the knowledge of carbon risk and green transition, as well as provides theoretical insights and practical enlightenment for the green transition of manufacturing enterprises in emerging economies.