Abstract: Effective implementation of non-subsidized policies is crucial for stimulating high-level innovation and innovation performance realization in the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, which faces a development bottleneck in the subsidized policy. This study uses data from listed NEV enterprises in China between 2012 and 2020 as the research sample. Based on the direct intervention and indirect guidance principles of industrial policy, the non-subsidized policy of  NEVs, most closely related to innovation incentive levels, is divided into two dimensions: direct intervention (such as the market access) and indirect guidance (such as the dual-credit policy and government procurement). Furthermore, we investigate the realization of enterprise innovation performance from the perspective of heterogeneous enterprise innovation behavior under policy influence, with innovation behavior as the intermediate variable. Hence, we construct a complete S-C-P framework for NEV enterprise innovation with innovation behavior as the mediating path. Additionally, we consider the synergistic effects and differences of policy instruments in combination. This study reveals several key findings. First, based on the S-C-P paradigm, the three non-subsidized policies have a direct impact on the innovation behavior and performance of NEV enterprises, with notable differences between them. In the front-end S-C link, the market access policy, represented by direct intervention, is more effective in promoting substantive innovation behavior, while the dual-credit policy and government procurement policy in the indirect guidance category are more likely to favor strategic innovation. In the back-end S-P link, the government procurement policy has the best effect on short-term performance realization, whereas the market access policy and dual-credit policy are more conducive to long-term innovation performance realization. Second, in the overall S-C-P framework, the innovation behavior (C) of vehicle enterprises partially mediates the effect of policies, but the efficiency of policy transfer from front-end innovation behavior to back-end innovation performance remains low. Third, the policy synergy analysis shows that the "1+1+1" effect of the three policies is not ideal. This study argues that adhering to the "non-subsidy" direction of industrial policy adjustment and vigorously developing non-subsidized policies is effective and necessary from the perspective of the role of NEV non-subsidized policies. At the same time, we must consider the characteristics and emphasis of different types of policy innovation incentives. For example, the market access policy can be used as a crucial means of direct intervention in the NEV non-subsidized policy, the dual-credit policy can be used as an important link in indirect guiding measures, while the government procurement policy needs to fully recognize and make good use of its "double-edged sword" function. Furthermore, we need to implement a differentiated and dynamic policy mix to expand the effectiveness boundaries of a single policy instrument and to ensure the effective implementation of policies. It is also important to note that within the technological innovation of NEV enterprises, we must establish a synchronous development mechanism of policy innovation incentives and enterprise behavior constraints. This will help effectively increase the proportion of high-level and substantive innovation within vehicle enterprises and fully realize the effective transformation of policy incentive scope from front-end innovation behavior to back-end innovation performance realization. This study makes two significant contributions. In terms of theoretical contribution, from the mechanism process of "policy resource structure - enterprise innovation behavior - enterprise innovation performance", taking the non-subsidized policy of NEVs as a typical example, this study enriches the research perspective of emerging industry policy and its innovation function, and expands the theoretical application scope of the S-C-P paradigm. In terms of practical contribution, from the perspective of "non-subsidy" policy research, this study systematically analyzes and effectively distinguishes the innovation realization process of NEV enterprises under the influence of non-subsidized policies. This broadens the existing research ideas on "non-financial incentives" and "non-monetary policies" of NEVs both domestically and internationally, and provides reasonable support for the further improvement of the non-subsidized policy system.

Key words: new energy vehicles, non-subsidized policy, innovation behavior, innovation performance, S-C-P paradigm