Adaptive change: Emerging economy enterprises respond to the international business environment challenge

The technological and market containment of emerging economy enterprises (EEEs) from developed countries is becoming a great challenge for EEE development. In this context, how do EEEs respond to international business challenges and achieve continuous organizational innovation? This study proposes a process model of EEEs’ organizational adaptive change to achieve innovation using the case of Hikvision, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) enterprise. The results show that the adaptive change in EEEs is a dynamic process. The negative impact of international business environment challenges on enterprise development is the starting point for enterprises to adopt change behaviors. Through adaptive change in innovation strategy, innovation architecture and innovation systems, EEEs can break through technology blockades, overcome market crises and further weaken the negative impact of such challenges. This study constructs an adaptive change process model for EEEs and proposes strategic initiatives for EEEs with the help of a national innovation system (NIS), which has policy implications for EEE strategies and industrial policy design in emerging economies.