The private economy has always been an important force in promoting the development of China's national economy. The unfair competition faced by private enterprises (PEs) compared to that faced by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in many areas will induce the competitive imitation of PEs. We find that PEs' competitive imitation strategy significantly inhibits innovation, while increased agency costs and reduced R&D investment are the two main mechanisms for this inhibitory effect. Furthermore, we find that this effect is stronger in firms with lower growth rate, worse information environment and stronger product market competition. However, the competitive imitation of PEs will eventually damage their innovation efficiency.

中文翻译：

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民营企业的竞争模仿与企业创新


民营经济始终是推动我国国民经济发展的重要力量。民营企业（PE）与国有企业（SOE）相比，在许多领域面临不公平竞争，会引发PE的竞争性模仿。我们发现PE的竞争性模仿策略显着抑制创新，而代理成本的增加和研发投入的减少是这种抑制效应的两个主要机制。此外，我们发现这种效应在增长率较低、信息环境较差、产品市场竞争较强的企业中更为明显。然而，PE的竞争性模仿最终会损害其创新效率。