Firm Size, Technical Efficiency and Productivity Growth in Chinese Industry

Since the mid-1990s, China’s state leadership has adopted a policy of nurturing the competitiveness of large state-owned industrial enterprises. The implications of this policy have been a matter of debate in the literature. This paper seeks to provide some useful input into the debate. With a view of investigating into the potential of long-term development of large enterprises, we estimate the “sequential production technology” in computing the Malmquist productivity index for various size-groups of enterprises in Chinese industry. Our findings indicate that large enterprises did register the fastest productivity growth and improvement in technical efficiency in the 1994-97 period. It thus appears that large-scale, mainly state-owned Chinese enterprises have exhibited the potential of making noticeable improvements and the relevant state policy does have its justification

GM cotton in China: innovation integration and seed market disintegration

The idea prevails that the specific advantages of Bt-cotton have permitted the successful diffusion of Genetically Modified Cotton in China. The efficiency of Bt-cotton however fluctuates between cotton production regions. In Jiangsu Province, along the Yangtze River Valley, there is not really yield increase, reduction in insecticide control is of limited extent and, globally, there is no income gain associated specifically to the use of Bt-cotton. The use of Bt-cotton is nevertheless almost general there. A more comprehensive approach, beyond focusing on the Bt-cotton specific effects, helps to explain this apparent paradox. In Jiangsu province, the diffusion of Bt-cotton has benefited from its integration into hybrid cultivars which are perfectly adapted to the profitable transplanting technique. This Chinese case indicates that the appraisal of Bt-cotton use in other countries should consider the extent to which this use would be compatible (or not) to existing production technologies. In China, the commercialization of Bt-cotton has induced the disintegration of the publicly-monitored seed market. Farmers firstly benefited from the process of seed market modernization but they now suffer from the excessive privately-oriented disintegration of the seed market. Adjustment of the public regulation is needed to help achieve a successful restructuring of the seed market. (Résumé d'auteur

China's domestic production networks

This paper examines China's domestic production networks. It uses VAT invoices to build inter-provincial input-output tables for 2002 and 2012. These are combined with population censuses to determine the location of workers involved in production. We document i) increased trade in intermediate inputs between provinces; ii) inter-provincial production fragmentation that differs by product; iii) substitution of domestic for foreign intermediates, resulting in increased domestic value added in exports. Information about the occupations of workers suggest that iv) richer coastal areas such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai specialize in R&D and marketing activities, whereas v) inland provinces specialize in production activities

Innovation Institution and Spatial Transfer of Energy Industry: The Case of Jiangsu Province, China

This study aims to explore the effect of innovation institution on spatial transfer of energy industry in Jiangsu, China. We focus on the disparity of innovation and energy industry, and analyze the spatial transfer difference in different types of energy industry, rather than view energy industry as a whole. The study demonstrates the spatial change of energy industry at regional level and maps the spatial pattern at city level. The study chooses intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection intensity, authorization patents and local research and development (R&D) investment as the proxy of innovation. Using official data and employing panel fixed-effect model at city-industry level, we conclude (a) innovation abilities significantly influence the spatial transfer of energy industry in Jiangsu. Especially, due to the different time, IPRs protection, patent counts, and R&D investment have different effects on different regions in Jiangsu; (b) 2010 is an important turning point for energy industry development in Jiangsu, and after 2010, the energy industry begins to shift to the middle and northern Jiangsu, whereas the spatial pattern of energy industry in coastal cities is basically unchanged; (c) there is a great difference between the regions in Jiangsu Province, and industrial upgrading has not been achieved in northern Jiangsu

Barriers to the implementation of enterprise strategic transformation based on path dependence theory: the case of Jiangsu High Hope Group

With the deepening of economic globalization and the improvement of the trade structure mode, China has gradually become a global trade power, enjoying increasing space for the development of its foreign trade enterprises. However, under the comprehensive influences by external factors, China's foreign trade enterprises are faced with huge pressure to survive. Foreign trade enterprises in the new situation must continue to carry out strategic transformation in order to survive and develop. However, in the dynamic environment, the traditional enterprise strategic transformation is faced with serious path dependence, which leads to obvious inertia, which seriously hinders enterprise strategic transformation implementation and even leads to transformation failure. Existing studies only focus on enterprise strategic transformation, whereas this thesis discusses the inertial factors that hinder enterprise strategic transformation implementation from the perspective of path dependence. In other words, this thesis incorporates the theory of path dependence into the theory of strategic transformation, and probes into enterprise strategic transformation from the perspective of path dependence. Proceeding from theory and demonstration and with Jiangsu High Hope Group as the research object, this thesis studies the path dependence factors that hinder Jiangsu High Hope Group's strategic transformation implementation. Relevant suggestions on addressing path dependence barriers to the case company's strategic transformation are put forward from five aspects, namely, enterprise structure, enterprise employees, enterprise core competencies, enterprise culture and external environment, in view of the fact that the case company’s path dependence hinders its strategic transformation implementation.Com o aprofundamento da globalização económica e a melhoria do modo de estrutura comercial, gradualmente, a China tornou-se em uma potência comercial no mundo, desfrutando de um espaço cada vez maior para o desenvolvimento de empresas de comércio exterior (ECE). No entanto, sob as influências abrangentes de fatores externos, as ECE da China enfrentam uma pressão enorme para sobreviver. Na situação nova, as ECE devem continuar a realizar a transformação estratégica (TE) para sobreviver e se desenvolver. Entretanto, no ambiente dinâmico, a TE da empresa tradicional é confrontada com uma séria dependência de trajetória (DT), o que leva à inércia óbvia, o que prejudica seriamente a implementação da TE da empresa, até leva ao fracasso da transformação. Os estudos existentes concentram-se apenas na TE da empresa, enquanto esta tese discute os fatores de inércia que impedem a implementação da TE na empresa a partir da perspetiva da DT, ou seja, esta tese incorpora a teoria da DT na teoria da TE e investiga a TE da empresa a partir da perspetiva da DT. Partindo da teoria e da investigação empírica e tendo como objeto de pesquisa o Grupo Jiangsu High Hope, esta tese estuda os fatores de DT que impedem a implementação da TE do Grupo. As conclusões mais relevantes sobre como lidar com barreiras de DT para a TE da empresa em causa são apresentadas em cinco vertentes, nomeadamente, a estrutura empresarial, os colaboradores de topo de empresa, competências essenciais da empresa, cultura empresarial e o ambiente externo. Este caso lustra bem em como a DT da empresa constitui dificuldade de implementação da TE