Payment matrix.

Leading enterprises in the industry chain play a demonstrative role, and promoting green innovation among leading enterprises is a meaningful approach to unlocking industry chain dividends. According to an analysis of the game process between customers and leading firms that incorporates the open innovation theory, we find a nonlinear role for the consumer discourse power in the leading firms’ innovation. Furthermore, using data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2012 and 2021, we observe an inverted "U" relationship between customer discourse power and green innovation. Notably, this effect is more pronounced in leading non-technology-intensive enterprises, industries with a high degree of industrial innovation, or regions with a high marketization degree. Our analysis also reveals that leading enterprises’ client leads to financial limitations that influence green innovation. Additionally, leading enterprises play a driving role in achieving "joint progress" in green innovation with local non-leading firms, and this effect exhibits spatial spillover.

产业链中的龙头企业具备示范引领作用，推动龙头企业开展绿色创新，是释放产业链红利的有效路径。本研究结合开放式创新理论（open innovation theory），对客户与龙头企业间的博弈过程展开分析，结果发现消费者话语权（consumer discourse power）对龙头企业创新活动存在非线性影响。进一步基于2012-2021年中国A股上市公司样本数据，本研究验证了消费者话语权与绿色创新之间存在倒U型关系。值得注意的是，该效应在非技术密集型龙头企业、工业创新活跃度较高的行业，以及市场化程度较高的地区中表现得更为突出。本研究同时发现，龙头企业的客户关联会引发财务约束，进而对其绿色创新活动产生影响。此外，龙头企业可带动本地非龙头企业实现绿色创新协同共进，该效应具备空间溢出特征。