As China is currently facing important strategic opportunities from the new round of technological revolution and in-depth development of its industry sector, the "Outline for the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives to Year 2035" clearly specifies the need to make sustained efforts to enhance basic research through the implementation of tax incentives to support private firms in conducting basic research, engaging in technological innovation, and participating in the research and development (R & D) of key and core technologies and major national technological projects. As the competition between countries is gradually shifting toward basic research, the importance of firms as main basic research entities has become increasingly prominent, while the advance planning for engaging in basic research in frontier fields is a vital source of innovation in core industrial technologies and of enhancing national strategic technological strength among firms^[1-3]. However, basic research is a typical public good with economic characteristics, such as being curiosity-driven, lacking direct commercial value, and having low exclusivity; hence, it is often regarded as a long-term investment^{[4, 5]}. Since firms, as market and innovation entities, have their own scopes in terms of activities, laws, and technological transition trajectories, the economic characteristics of basic research prompt them to engage in R & D activities such as applied research and experimental development, thereby causing firms to be naturally "inert" toward engagement in basic research^[6-9]. In particular, firms in late-developing countries are more inclined to invest in applied research that revolves around technology acquisition due to their inadequate capital accumulation, lack of resources for high-quality R & D, and huge market competition pressure in the face of ready-made technologies from developed countries due to their late start^[10-12]. Therefore, the relationship between basic research and firms is a challenging issue in China^[3], especially there is a lack of understanding of the importance of firm basic research.

At present, the discussion on basic research is mostly focused on the macro level. Sample data from different countries are used to empirically explore the economic effect of basic research in a multi-dimensional way, and it is basically confirmed that the development of basic research plays a significant role in promoting the economic growth of a country^[13-15], while the discussion on firm basic research at the micro level is insufficient. In addition, existing studies mainly focus on the influence of basic research on a single dimension of firms. For example, as the technological innovation chain model proposed by Kline & Rosenberg^[16] reveals that there is an inseparable relationship between technological innovation and basic research, scholars^[17-24] have paid extensive attention to the influence of basic research on technological innovation. Popp^[25] and Cai^[26] discussed the influence of the papers cited in patents on patent value with the help of patents in the energy industry and their citation data, and then explained the relationship between basic research and technological innovation. In addition, basic research is not only the source of explicit information, but also creates new technological opportunities and an opportunity for the sustainable development of firms, which plays a very important role in promoting the overall performance of firms. Therefore, many scholars have studied the relationship between firm basic research and firm productivity. Mansfield^[27], Griliches^[28], Lichtenberg and Siegel^[29] based on data from microfirms, examined the effect of basic research on productivity and confirmed the effect of basic research on productivity. At present, literatures on firm-level basic research are always accompanied by discussions on technological innovation and firm performance, but existing researches only focus on the direct relationship between firm-level basic research and the above two variables, few studies have incorporated basic research, technological innovation and enterprise performance into a research framework to explore the logical relationship and influence mechanism between them. Its research dimension and related researches on how to further and better promote firms, especially Chinese firms, to strengthen basic research are not perfect. What is the relationship among basic research, technological innovation and firm performance? How to give full play to the important role of basic research in the process of improving enterprises' technological innovation ability and performance? There is little systematic discussion about this in academic circles, and the relevant exploration of basic research in enterprises needs to be further enriched. Huawei Technologies is a global leading information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. According to its official website, innovation is the foundation for the survival and development of the firm, as it invests no less than 10% of its annual revenue in R & D, with around 21% of this amount being used, on average, for basic research. Based on {The 2018 EU Industrial R & D Investment Scoreboard}, provided by the European Union, Huawei Technologies ranked first in China and fifth worldwide, with an R & D investment of EUR 11.334 billion. According to the Web of Science database, from 2000 to 2019, Huawei published 2, 314 academic papers in more than 10 natural science fields, including engineering, communications and computer science. The annual number of papers published is as high as over 200, which fully reflects the high investment in basic research of Huawei firms^[30]. Huawei has held more than 400 important positions in more than 600 standards organizations, industry alliances, open source communities and academic organizations worldwide. R & D personnel accounted for 53.4% of the company's total staff, and R & D expenses accounted for 15.9% of the annual revenue. In 2019, it has become one of the firms with the highest number of patents worldwide, as it holds over 85, 000 valid patents, 90% of which are invention patents. Thanks to its high-intensity engagement in R & D and basic research over the long term, Huawei Technologies has been able to maintain its leading position in several technical fields, which is a typical successful case among Chinese firms. Its successful experience plays an important role in how to strengthen the basic research of firms at the present stage of China's development, and also has important guiding significance for the improvement of the core technology capabilities of China's ICT industry and the development of basic research of firms in various industries in China.

Hence, using Huawei Technologies as a case study, this study explores the relationships between basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance, as well as the effects of firms' engagement in basic research on technological innovation and firm performance. It aims to integrate basic research, technological innovation and enterprise performance into a research framework based on empirical data, expand its research dimension and enrich the research on basic research issues in China at the enterprise level. And in accordance with the successful cases of huawei firm for its internal mechanism were discussed, and on this basis, from increased investment in basic research, improve the quality of basic research and improve the achievements transformation mechanism three aspects put forward relevant countermeasures and suggestions, in order to stimulate the enthusiasm of the firm into basic research, to guide firms to carry out the basic research of policymakers to provide the reference and reference.

Basic research and technological innovation are two important sources of power for scientific and technological development and social progress. Basic research enables firms to accumulate relevant knowledge and skills, which is conducive to the breakthrough of scientific principles. Technological innovation of firms is an activity or process of productization and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements creatively. Its success or failure depends to some extent on the update of the original technical knowledge, as well as the introduction, creation, digestion and absorption of new technical knowledge^[31]. Basic research is closely related to technological innovation^[32] and the fundamental driving force behind technological innovation^[33], which in turn relies on the endogenous accumulation of principles and knowledge^[34]. On the one hand, basic research helps firms to better understand and transform scientific knowledge and give play to the guiding role of scientific knowledge, which may lead to the solution of key problems in technological research and development and promote the development of technological innovation^[35]. On the other hand, since basic research has significant external economy and knowledge spillover effect^[36], firms can master and utilize other firms' achievements in basic research and the tacit knowledge therein by conducting basic research^{[2, 37]}, which will give it important capabilities to take advantage of scientific breakthroughs^[3]. In other words, firms can significantly promote technological innovation by conducting basic research via two paths, namely knowledge creation and the understanding and absorption of external knowledge and achievements^[38-40]. Based on the above arguments, this study posits:

H1 Basic research has a positive effect on technological innovation among firms, was it can promote technological innovation.

Technological innovation is an important part of firm core competitiveness. Investing R & D resources in technological innovation is conducive to improving firms' ability to master existing knowledge and technology and the success rate of product development, which plays a very important role in enhancing competitiveness and improving firms' production efficiency and economic efficiency^[41]. Scholars at home and abroad have verified the above discussion. Despite differences in research objects, research methods and research levels, a large number of empirical studies have unanimously concluded that technological innovation has a significant positive impact on firm performance^[42-46]. Firms reduce production costs through new processes and technologies, which help them achieve more efficient allocation of resources. Product innovation at the same time bring heterogeneity and rarity of new goods, effectively generating considerable economic benefits for firms, with the related increase in profits being greater than their technological investment^{[47, 48]}. In addition, many classical studies have proved that continuous technological innovation can significantly improve firm performance. Existing technological innovation of firms may have scale effect and scope economy, which can promote the birth of new products, facilitate the implementation of differentiation strategy and gradually form core competitiveness, and increase technological marginal benefit for firms^[49]. At the same time, continuous technological innovation can change the relationship between production factors, improve production quality and efficiency, reduce production cost and learning curve, and improve firms' economic benefits^[50]. Other scholars have confirmed that the sustainability of technological innovation has a cumulative effect on corporate performance^[51], improving corporate performance by shaping a structure favorable to innovators' preferences^[52]. Based on the above analysis, this study hypothesizes:

H2 Technological innovation has a positive effect on firm performance, as it can promote firm performance.

Basic research is the fundamental driving force to promote firms to improve their original innovation ability, is an important source of firm innovation and industrial innovation, and has a positive impact on the economic performance of firms^{[53, 54]}. Although the results of firm basic research cannot be put into production immediately, firm basic research is the exploration of advanced knowledge in the frontier scientific field of the industry, which helps firms realize technological innovation, break down industry barriers, and speed up the industrialization process, thus ultimately enabling them to occupy the market, becoming leaders in the industry, or promoting industrial development^{[55, 56]}. Existing studies have confirmed that firms actively carry out basic research can help them acquire, digest, absorb and utilize advanced knowledge and scientific breakthroughs^[3], which is the unique technical resource that basic research activities bring to firms, not only can improve the new product development in the process of product manufacturing and process operation efficiency, promote firm product innovation performance^{[57, 58]}, but also can help firms to effectively carry out technology diffusion, so that firms get technological leading advantages and excess profits^[59], and then promote the overall performance level of the firm. For example, Studies show that Huawei's leading position and development advantage in the market and industry is due to its high emphasis on basic research. On the one hand, by carrying out basic research, the firm can improve its own learning and absorption capacity^[55], which is conducive to Huawei taking developed countries with superior technological resources as the pioneer, taking obtaining superior technological resources as the leading driving force, promoting its R & D globalization process and consolidating its leading position in the industry^[60]. On the other hand, the long-term high-intensity investment in basic research enables Huawei firms to achieve a number of original technological breakthroughs, solve key technical obstacles in engineering, obtain continuous technological competitive advantages^[3], and further promote the improvement of firm performance. Based on the analysis above, we posit:

H3 Basic research has a positive effect on firm performance, being able to promote firm performance.

1) Basic research. Since scientific journal articles are the main output of basic research, the number of scientific journal articles published and the citation frequency of scientific journal articles are some of the widely used measures for basic research^[61]. The number of citations for scientific journal articles has a positive correlation with the influence the articles, meaning that the value of articles can be quantified using the quality of basic research^[62]. Hence, this study measures the target firm's achievements in basic research using scientific journal article output (SCI) and scientific journal article value (SCF) based on the two dimensions of basic research, namely the number and quality of academic journal articles, respectively.

2) Technological innovation. A patent is not only an important embodiment of technological innovation, but also a vital factor influencing it^{[63, 64]}. Therefore, this study measures technological innovation using two variables from the quantitative and qualitative dimensions, namely patent output (NAP) and patent value (IPF), respectively. Since patent licensing can better reflect technological innovation than patent application^[65], this study measures patent output and patent value using the number of invention patents licensed and their citation frequency, respectively, based on existing studies^{[66, 67]}.

3) Firm performance. Based on domestic and foreign studies, the indicators commonly used for measuring firm performance include Tobin's $q$, return on total assets, return on equity, and earnings per share. This study focuses on investigating whether basic research benefits a firm, with the aim of guiding the firm to engage in basic research. Therefore, from the perspective of corporate investors, this study selects the return on equity as a measure of firm performance by referencing existing studies^{[68, 69]}.

Consequently, the indicator system adopted in this study is presented in Table 1.

This study uses relevant data of Huawei Technologies from 2000 to 2019 for research, with data regarding the firm's scientific journal articles being sourced from the Web of Science; data regarding the firm's invention patents are primarily obtained from the incoPat database, a global search platform for invention patents, and data regarding the company's firm performance are taken from the Chinese and English versions of the firm's annual reports.

This study uses a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to investigate the relationships between basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance. The reasons for using this model are twofold. First, a time lag exists in the relationships between the three variables. Second, these three variables are closely associated with each other, but the related constraints are vague. A VAR model focuses on revealing the role and effect of a variable in the overall model, meaning it can better meet the analytical needs of this study.

For testing H1, H2, and H3, firm performance is chosen as the dependent variable, and is measured using the return on equity (ROE). Further, basic research and technological innovation are selected as independent variables, where basic research is measured using the number of scientific journal articles published (SCI) and the citation frequency of scientific journal articles (SCF), and technological innovation is measured using the number of patents licensed (NAP) and the citation frequency of these patents (IPF). Under this model, there is no need to logarithmize the values for return on equity (ROE) since they are expressed in percentage form; conversely, the values of the remaining variables, including the number of scientific journal articles published (SCI), citation frequency of scientific journal articles (SCF), number of patents licensed (NAP), and the citation frequency of invention patents (IPF) are in log form. This model is expressed by the following equation:

Since the time series are non-stationary, direct regression will result in spurious regression due to non-stationarity of the variables; thus, there is a need to test the stationarity of the variables before regression. A commonly adopted stationarity test method is the augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, which is carried out using EViews 10.0. The results for the variables from this test are presented in Table 2.

From these results, the ADF values of ROE, lnSCI, and lnSCF in the initial series are less than the critical values; hence, the null hypothesis is rejected (i.e., the series is stationary). The time series of other variables are non-stationary, so it is necessary to perform differentiation on all variables. As can be observed from the ADF test performed after applying second-order differentiation to the variables, ROE, POR, lnSCI, lnSCF, lnNAP, and lnIPF are second-order integer-valued time series. The relevant results are presented in Table 3.

The VAR model fits each endogenous variable as a lagged value, so that relationships between variables can be examined. There is a need to perform the Johansen co-integration test after determining the optimal lag order of the model. As determined in the optimal lag order test according to the Akaike information criterion (AIC), the optimal lag order of this model is the third order (see Table 4).

To test whether a long-term co-integration relationship exists between the variables, this study employs the commonly used Johansen co-integration test to test the long-term stable relationships between the variables. The relevant findings are presented in Table 5.

The results of trace statistic and max-eigen statistic show that in the one and only one co-integration relationship, the values of the trace and max-eigen statistic are 1, 788.5298 and 516.5193, which are greater than the 5% critical values of 77.74 and 36.41, respectively. This shows that the model has one and only one co-integration equation. From the results of the Johansen co-integration test, a long-term equilibrium and stable relationship exist between the three variables. The co-integration equation is expressed below, where the values between parentheses are $t$-values. Based on this equation, both basic research and technological innovation have a positive effect on firm performance. All coefficients in this equation are significant at the 5% level.

To test the stationarity of the VAR model, the AR unit circle test is carried out. As shown in Figure 1, all the characteristic roots are located inside the unit circle, thus indicating that the VAR model is stable.

A long-term equilibrium and stable relationship exists between the three variables, namely basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance, while the optimal lag order of this model is of the third order and $R^2=0.9846$, which indicates that the VAR model has a good fit. Hence, the VAR model can be constructed as follows:

Owing to the presence of a long-term stable relationship between the variables, the Granger causality test can be employed to test the causality between variables, with the third order selected as the lag order of the model. When the $p$-value is below 0.05, the null hypothesis that Granger causality exists between the variables is rejected. The results obtained of this test for this model is presented as follows.

As the Granger causality test is unable to indicate true causality, it is necessary to analyze the relationships between variables using impulse response analysis and variance decomposition. This study uses EViews 10.0 and selects a 10-period impulse response function for analysis.

1) Basic research and technological innovation. As illustrated in Figure 2, there is no significant change in invention patent output (NAP) in the first two periods after scientific journal article output (SCI) causes a positive shock to invention patent output (NAP). Invention patent output (NAP) maintains a positive fluctuation starting from the second period but then begins to exhibit a rapid upward trend in the eighth period. After scientific journal article output (SCI) causes a positive shock to invention patent value (IPF), invention patent value (IPF) demonstrates a steady positive fluctuation starting from the first period, but begins to exhibit a rapid upward trend in the ninth period. After scientific journal article value (SCF) causes a positive shock to invention patent output (NAP), invention patent output (NAP) first demonstrates a negative fluctuation at the beginning, while its negative fluctuation reaches the lowest value in the third period; thereafter, this variable begins to show a gradual upward trend. The shock caused by invention patent output (NAP) to scientific journal article value (SCF) does not fluctuate significantly from the fourth to the ninth period, but its fluctuation becomes positive starting from the ninth period and exhibit a certain upward trend thereafter. After scientific journal article value (SCF) causes a positive shock to invention patent value (IPF), invention patent value (IPF) does not exhibit any significant fluctuation in the first nine periods, but only begins to demonstrate a positive fluctuation in the ninth period. These findings show that the firm's engagement in basic research has a positive effect on technological innovation; hence, H1 is supported.

2) Technological innovation and firm performance. As illustrated in Figure 3, after invention patent output (NAP) sends a positive pulse to return on equity (ROE), return on equity (ROE) exhibits a positive fluctuation starting from the first period and reaches a peak in the fourth period, but its positive fluctuation weakens gradually thereafter. On the other hand, after invention patent value (IPF) causes a positive shock to the return on equity (ROE), which shows a positive but relatively slow response starting from the first period, but begins to grow rapidly in the fifth period and maintains positive growth thereafter. These findings show that the firm's engagement in technological innovation has a positive effect on firm performance; hence, H2 is supported.

3) Basic research and firm performance. As illustrated in Figure 4, after scientific journal article output (SCI) causes a positive shock to return on equity (ROE), return on equity (ROE) shows a slight positive fluctuation starting from the first period, while its positive fluctuation becomes flat between the third and sixth periods; however, its positive fluctuation begins to increase gradually from the sixth period and exhibits a rapid upward trend thereafter. After scientific journal article value (SCF) causes a positive shock to return on equity (ROE), the latter exhibits negative growth at the beginning until the eighth period when its negative fluctuation turns positive, and this positive fluctuation continues thereafter. This indicates that the firm's engagement in basic research has a positive effect on firm performance; hence, H3 is supported.

This study carries out the variance decomposition of the above variables, which are used as response variables, to analyze the process and level of the effects between the three variables. Table 7 shows that, in the process of firm development, the effect of the firm itself contributes 100% to the increase in firm performance in the first period, while the impact of firm performance on the firm itself exhibits a downward trend due to the influence of basic research and technological innovation, with its contribution rate dropping to about 6.9% in the tenth period. In this process, the contribution of scientific journal article output to firm performance reaches a peak (27.6%) in the second period, but declines gradually after a steady state and eventually drops to around 12.2% in the tenth period. In comparison, there is a longer time lag in the effect of scientific journal article value on firm performance, as its impact coefficient reaches a peak in the fourth period but declines slowly thereafter to around 9.6% in the tenth period. At the same time, the contributions of patent output and quality to firm performance exhibit an upward trend from the first period. The impact coefficient of patent output increases rapidly from 0.0% to approximately 66.5%, while the contribution of patent quality to firm performance increases slowly from 0.0% to approximately 6.4%. As far as the contribution rate is concerned, invention patent output (NAP) contributes the most to firm performance, followed by scientific journal article output (SCI). From the perspective of the change in the contribution rate, the contributions of patent output (NAP) and patent quality (IPF) continue to increase, with patent output (NAP) demonstrating a faster growth in contribution rate. Meanwhile, the contributions of scientific journal article output (SCI) and scientific journal article value (SCF) first increase before declining.

According to Table 8, patent output (NAP) contributes by around 29.8% to the increase in firm performance in the first period due to the effect of the firm itself, while its contribution rate rises to 33.48% in the second period and declines gradually thereafter, albeit at a slower pace. Following the firm's achievements in basic research, the contribution of scientific journal article output to invention patent output increases from 5.4% in the first period to around 50.7% in the tenth period, with a sharp rise in the fourth period. At the same time, the contribution of scientific journal article quality to scientific invention output reaches a peak (51.8%) in the sixth period, and then stabilizes. Overall, scientific journal article output and scientific journal article quality contribute to invention patent output at a high rate, with the contribution of scientific journal article output to invention patent output demonstrating a continuous growth trend, whereas the contribution of scientific journal article quality to invention patent output exhibits an inverted U-shaped change.

From Table 9, invention patent quality contributes 2.8% to the increase in firm performance in the first period but declines gradually thereafter, to about 0.4% in the tenth period. At the same time, the contribution of scientific journal article output to patent quality demonstrates long-term growth, as it rises from 20.8% in the first period to 58.3% in the ninth period. The impact coefficient of scientific journal article quality on patent quality shows a continuous rise from the first to the fourth period when it reaches a peak (56.2%), and then enters the stage of steady development before slowly dropping to 34.6% in the tenth period. Overall, scientific journal article output and scientific journal article quality contribute to invention patent quality at a high rate, where the contribution of scientific journal article output continues to grow, while the contribution of scientific journal article quality reaches a peak in the sixth period and then reaches steady development before showing a downward trend.

Using data on Huawei Technologies as the research sample, this study employed a VAR model to investigate the relationships between basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance, reaching the following conclusions:

1) Basic research has a positive influence on technological innovation, with a significant lag. The results of impulse response analysis show that the facilitative effects of basic research on the number and quality of technological innovations at Huawei Technologies are not significant in the short term, but emerge gradually over the long run and increase with time. Additionally, high-quality basic research that is more forward-looking has a facilitative effect with a longer term and even a negative effect on the number of technological innovations in the short run; however, it has no short-term negative effect on the quality of technological innovations. From the Granger causality test, Huawei Technologies' achievements in technological innovation and forward-looking high-quality basic research are built on the basis of a large quantity of basic research. In addition, a virtuous cycle of mutual facilitation has formed between Huawei Technologies' high-quality technological innovation and high-quality basic research. This indicates that basic research plays an important role of driving force, although it can significantly promote technological innovation, the development of its value potential is conditional, which often requires significant resources, such as time and manpower, where the conversion of high-quality basic research that is more forward-looking requires even more resources.

2) Technological innovation has a positive effect on firm performance, with significant periodicity. On the one hand, the results of impulse response analysis show that the faster is the conversion of technological innovations at Huawei Technologies, the faster its facilitative effect on firm performance appears to be; however, this kind of facilitative effect reaches a peak quickly and weakens gradually thereafter, thus indicating significant periodicity. On the other hand, high-quality technological innovations that are highly innovative significantly prolong the cycle of the facilitative effect on firm performance. However, the Granger causality test shows no causality between technological innovation and firm performance. This finding clearly indicates that technological innovation achievements do not necessarily improve firm performance, but organic combination of technological innovation and market, carrying out technical innovation with purpose and pertinence, and the formulation of efficient achievement transformation system will be conducive to achieve sustainable profit income. This just reflects that Huawei's technological innovation is highly market-oriented and has an efficient institutional arrangement to realize the transformation of achievements.

3) Basic research has a positive effect on firm performance, with a procedural nature. The results of impulse response analysis show that the facilitative effect of basic research on firm performance is not significant in the short run; in particular, forward-looking high-quality basic research has a negative effect in the short term but its facilitative effect emerges gradually in the longer term. Based on the Granger causality test, engaging in basic research does not necessarily drive improvement in firm performance, since firms improve knowledge creation and the knowledge absorptive capacity by engaging in basic research to drive technological innovation and increase the level of achievement conversion, thereby expanding market size and eventually improving firm performance^[38]. In this process, the length of the time lag for the positive facilitative effect of basic research on firm performance depends on the speed of science technologization and technology industrialization.

The research results of this paper not only have certain theoretical value, clarifying the relationship between basic research, technological innovation and firm performance, but also provide important revelatory suggestions for firms to carry out basic research:

1) Increase engagement in basic research. Basic research is the source of technological innovation and the foundation of industrial innovation. Due to its emphasis on basic research, Huawei Technologies uses around 20% of its annual R & D funding on basic theoretical research, which in turn brings numerous achievements to the firm, thereby strongly supporting its technological and product innovation. Basic research plays a role in knowledge creation and knowledge accumulation when promoting technological innovation and firm performance. This role also serves as the basis for forward-looking high-quality basic research, as well as disruptive technological and product innovations, with Huawei Technologies' breakthrough in the 5G field being a typical example.

2) Increase the quality of basic research. Continuous innovation in key and core technologies ensures that the firm continues to occupy a leading position, whereas high-quality basic research is the basis for achieving breakthroughs in innovation in key and core technologies. With the establishment of research centers, joint innovation centers, and laboratories worldwide, Huawei Technologies focuses on concentrating innovation resources in standard and specific core technology areas in the face of medium- and long-term development, thereby ensuring it achieves numerous breakthroughs in forward-looking basic research and innovation in core technologies, eventually completing the transformation of the firm from follower to leader.

3) Improve the mechanism for achievement conversion. The process of conversion between basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance requires a complete system design for protection. Huawei Technologies has established the rules for the basic system of the firm, known as the "Huawei Basic Law", adopted a reverse innovation strategy and a strategy in which the market determines the content of technological innovation, introduced a series of measures such as the integrated product development (IPD) system and the continuous dynamic adjustment of organizational structure to meet the needs of different innovation stages, and constructed a set of institutional and process systems for a virtuous cycle of mutual facilitation between highly efficient basic research, technological innovation, and firm performance, thereby effectively avoiding uncertainties in the innovation process.