Technology, Innovation and Latecomer Strategies: Evidence from the Mobile Handset Manufacturing Sector in China

Since the entry of Chinese domestic mobile handset manufacturers in 1998, Chinese domestic suppliers have successfully surpassed the market share of joint ventures (JVs) while direct imports have been largely phased out. By examining China’s mobile handset manufacturing sector as a whole and through case studies, we found several factors that contributed to the success of China’s domestic handset manufacturers which can be classified into three categories: market conditions, competition, and government’s support.

Analysis on the evolution and governance of the biotechnology industry of China

The past twenty years have witnessed the high-speed growth of China’s biotechnology industry, and this presents an excellent opportunity to examine the changes that have taken place, especially, to carry out overall evaluation and governance analysis from the perspective of technology policies. Although China’s biotechnology industry has achieved tremendous extension both in scale and structure, the strengths it gained from basic research have been significantly weakened by commercialization. This has resulted in the comparatively limited scale of the whole industry, innovation-lacking products, poor output from research and development and scarcity of industrial resources. A large range of literature regarding China’s biotechnology industry attributes these outcomes to vague and even inappropriate governance, findings supported mainly by analyses based on the linear model of impact of government policies on industrial development. In these analyses, government, enterprises and companies as well as R&D organizations are either put on the opposite poles or in a straight line. After examining the nature of China’s biotechnology industry, and in particular the dynamic procedures in research and development, the authors of this paper argue that besides government, enterprises and R&D organizations, a diverse array of factors should be taken into account as we tackle issues emerging in understanding the development of China’s biotechnology industry. Furthermore, these factors, human or nonhuman, should not be arranged as opposing poles or linearly connected points on a straight line. They are in fact all knitted in networks and act as both knitters and knots. China’s biotechnology industry gains its strength to develop and evolve from these networks, thus its governance must be aimed at improving their stability and quality. Although the main disciplinary perspectives of this research are historical and sociological (including identification of the three development stages of biotechnology in China since 1978 to present days), a large number of concepts and ideas from management studies as well as an interdisciplinary approach are also incorporated into the analysis. The main model used in this research is Actor Network Theory, which is employed as a basic theoretical frame. From this starting point the authors attempt to make a closer examination of China’s biotechnology industry both at the level of technology research and development and at the level of commercialization. The modeling process in this research can be regarded as an attempt to explore the social construction of China’s biotechnology industry. The paper reveals how China’s biotechnology industry develops in the form of networks within the country’s social context and what kinds of relationships exist among the relevant factors; therefore, providing guiding insights for improving the governance of China’s biotechnology industry both in policy and management

Red meat from pasture : sustainable livelihoods for small mixed farmers in China's Yunnan Province : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Applied Science in Agribusiness Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

China's pattern of food consumption is changing. The demand for high quality red meat is rapidly increasing, especially in the more affluent coastal regions. The pastoral livestock farmers in Southwest China have low and declining incomes, and operate in a highly uncertain environment. This environmental uncertainty is derived from the seasonal climate, land tenure policies, and a dealer-dominated supply chain in which information is scarce, ambiguous, and untimely. The researcher spent two years in China's Yunnan Province working on a pastoral development project. During this assignment, the researcher undertook a case study of the small, mixed livestock and cropping farmers involved in the project, together with an evaluation of alternative strategies for pastoral development and enhancing livestock production. The case study also involved an overview of agricultural extension and the red meat supply chain in the study area. The current farm production systems are environmentally, financially and socially unsustainable. Farm output is low and achieved inefficiently at considerable cost to future productive potential. Farmers are not investing in farm improvements because they lack confidence in their ability to generate a return from such investments. Confidence is low because farmers do not trust other supply chain participants, and they perceive a low level of control over the operating environment. This is resulting in a vicious cycle of unsustainability. There are numerous market opportunities emerging due to changes food consumption. Farmers have three broad strategic options for taking advantage of these opportunities: invest in technologies to raise output and quality, further process to add value and increase consumer acceptance of red meat and co-operate within the supply chain. The technologies extended as part of the development project were demonstrated to yield significant benefits in terms of production and profit. However, adoption has been low because many of the technologies did not consider local constraints, extension has not widely occurred and uncertainty in the operating environment did not encourage investment. For farmers to be able to successfully implement these strategies farmers need to be empowered and a more enabling environment created. This empowerment involves changing farmers' perception of locus of control, sharing control and supply chain participants learning about each other. Co-operation between farmers and the rest of the supply chain should provide benefits along the whole chain. A model for co-operative and sustainable development is proposed and limitations of this model are discussed. Title: Red Meat from Pasture: Sustainable Livelihoods for Small Mixed Farmers in China's Yunnan Province. Degree: Master of Applied Science in Agribusiness Management Author: Alan Kent McDermott Year: 2001 Keywords: Southwest China; pastoral livestock systems; supply chain management; sustainable livelihoods; trust; perceptions of control; extension of technology

The Strawberry Growth Underneath the Nettle: the emergence of entrepreneurs in China

Chinese entrepreneurs innovatively manage organisations in the absence of strong economic institutions, under conditions of high environmental and technological uncertainty. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study designed to investigate how Chinese entrepreneurs can be successful in such an environment. We found that Chinese entrepreneurial activity relies on social institutions rather than on economic institutions. We offer a sociological theory which explains why the reliance on social institutions leads to such an unprecedented success. We conclude that the strong rule-enforcement mechanisms generate reliable behavioral patterns, and that these in turn efficiently reduce uncertainty to tolerable levels.networks;social capital;evolutionary economics;Comparative business systems;private sector in China

Can Communist economies transform incrementally? China's experience

The authors try to answer important questions. How important is the phasing of political and economic liberalization and the active (versus passive) role of the state in reform? What lessons can be learned about comprehensive top-down reform as opposed to experimental bottom-up reforms; fast versus slow liberalization and opening up of the economy; the need to establish full private property rights at the beginning of reform; and reform's implications for welfare and distribution? Can China's excellent performance be linked toparticular reform measure, or does it reflect distinctive initial conditions or social or demographic factors? Is China's performance sustainable without more comprehensive transformation, or does it reflect transient gains that are substantially exhausted? Among the lessons China offers are the following. Partial reform can succeed in raising productivity in agriculture and industry; industrial productivity has grown very rapidly in the nonstate sector but also in state enterprises. A"big bang"is not economically necessary unless justified by the need to address macroeconomic imbalances. There may be virtue in a decentralized"bottom-up"approach to reform. Rapid privatization is not necessary for successful reform, but it is important to diversify ownership and encourage the entry of new firms. Small scale privatization and the liberalization of distribution and service sectors are likely to have the fastest payoff in the reform of property rights. China's rapid growth momentum and macroeconomic stability cannot be sustained without further reforms, including the reform of banking, taxation, and property rights.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Municipal Financial Management

China's Township and Village Enterprises and their Evolving Business Alliances and Organizational Change.

The economic literature suggests that the success of China's WEs has arisen due to special circumstances. This paper argues, to the contrary, that they are likely to remain a significant feature of the Chinese economy, albeit in new organisational and ownership forms, for some time. Their evolving strategic business alliances, including that with science based research institutions, it is argued, will make this possible.OWNERSHIP ; BUSINESS ORGANIZATION ; ECONOMIC GROWTH

INNOVATIVE CITY IN WEST CHINA CHONGQING

This working paper offers insights on science and technology in China with supporting official and interview data. The paper, as evidenced from the title, is indicating the future role of Chongqing and its evolution primarily focusing on the period of rapid development of the Municipality after Chongqing became a political entity on the same level as provinces of China. This has coincided with the planning, construction and completion of the Three Gorges Dam Project involving the resettlement of 1,000,000 people – most them coming to the rural areas Chongqing Municipality. Three major sub-themes are highlighted. First, the city played important role during more than 2000 years of its history (in 1981, for example it became first inland port in China open for foreign commerce). In the XX century Chongqing was national capital during the Second World War and the Japanese invasion (Nationalists government). Since then it enjoyed higher political status and economic independence than any other city of the same size in whole western China. Second, the municipality’s geographical position and demographic condition makes it quite unique in West China. It has a population of 31 million, an area of 82 square km, a population density of 379 persons per km2 and a location at the upper reaches of Chang (Yangtze) River. This makes it the gate of Southwest China. Third, Chongqing has a strong basic multi-faced economy in the region. Central investment since the 1950s has assisted the development of a relatively strong modern industrial base in the city. Despite the post-Mao reform era’s impact on social and economic disparities as between the coastal areas and the west, Chongqing remains one of the China’s strongest city economies. Its industrial output value ranked 11th among the 35 biggest city economies in China in 2000, though it ranked behind the top ten most industrialized coastal cities, all of which had attracted much greater foreign investment during the reform era. The campaign to Open up the West provides Chongqing with the opportunity to act as the growth pole for a number of less industrialized provincial-level units in north-west and south-west China. Fourth, the initiatives by central authorities and the extraordinary task of Three Gorges Dam project required among other great tasks also relocation of over 1,2 million people, the rebuilding of two cities, eleven county towns and one hundred sixteen townships from the site of Three Gorges Dam water reservoir. Until 2005 there were already almost one million residents resettled. Less than 20 per cent moved outside Chongqing municipality and the majority was to be accommodated within the region of Chongqing Municipality.Regional development; clusters; Regional innovation System (RIS); Development block; competence block; technology system; High Technology Parks; Overview of Science and Technology; FDI