an empirical investigation Guo, Zhenglong creator Li, Runshuai text s.l Scientific Research Publishing Inc. 2025 continuing eng Abstract : From the perspective of manufacturing enterprises’ sustainable development, this study investigates the relationship between corporate governance structure and substantive innovation behavior. By combining theoretical research and empirical research methods, the research selected data information from manufacturing enterprises in southern China from 2016 to 2020 to conduct regression analysis to investigate the impact of key factors in the internal governance structure of manufacturing enterprises on their substantive innovation behavior. The results show that in the development of manufacturing enterprises, substantive innovation behaviors such as product innovation and service innovation are influenced by the equity structure, board structure, and management structure of the enterprise. The concentration of equity structure and innovation behavior exhibit an inverted U-shaped relationship. The larger the board size, the worse the innovation behavior, huge stakeholders and excessive distribution of interests will lead to shareholders’ concession logic, thus restricting the sustainable development of enterprises. Zhenglong Guo and Runshuai Li. Includes bibliographical references. Sustainable development Manufacturing enterprises Governance structure Bankruptcy China Corporate technological innovation Equity structure China Enterprise substantive innovation Board of directors structure China Enterprise substantive innovation Executive incentives China Enterprise substantive innovation Management incentives China Business Research Research Quantitative research Journal articles (Open access) , volume 13, number 1 (January 2025). 2329-3292 https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=138681 https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=138681 250219 20250331031331.0