Dual-edged tools of trade: How international joint ventures help and hinder capability building of Chinese firms

Forming international joint ventures (IJVs) with multinational corporations (MNCs) from advanced economies has been widely adopted by firms in emerging economies as an organizational approach to building up their innovative capabilities. In this paper, we emphasize that such an approach has both advantages (knowledge transfer from MNCs) and disadvantages (overdependence upon MNCs and reduction of innovation incentives) in the capability building of indigenous firms. Utilizing a longitudinal dataset consisting of 474 industries in China during 1998–2002, we find supporting evidence for the co-existence of the positive and negative impacts of IJVs. Specifically, we find that IJV presence has an inverted U-shape impact on innovative capabilities of indigenous firms; such an impact is stronger in industries with low (versus high) technology gap. We discuss the implications of our findings for research, managerial practice, and government policy.     

Strategies,technologies, and organizational learning for developing organizational innovativeness in emerging economies

Innovativeness is an important organizational capability for competitive advantage sustainability in the dynamic environment of Asia's emerging economies. Drawing upon dynamic capability theory, this study develops a research model of organizational innovativeness development for firms in emerging economies. The proactive strategic orientations reflected by entrepreneurship and technology oriented strategy provide important visions for organizational innovativeness. Further, the utilization of knowledge management systems and organizational learning are identified as intervention processes that translate these strategic orientations into real innovation capability. A survey involving 114 firms operating in China was conducted for hypothesis testing. The empirical results provide strong support and advance the knowledge of organizational innovativeness development for firms in Asia's emerging economies.     

The effects of industry cluster knowledge management on innovation performance

Research on industrial clusters mostly focuses on the effects of the competitive advantage they generate. This study takes a different approach, conducting empirical research on three types of Taiwanese parks (export processing zones, industrial zones, and science parks), in which economic development is particularly prominent, and which have industry cluster characteristics. The study explores the effects of special resources and relationships among cluster firms on innovation performance, and focuses on knowledge management as the mediator for investigation. A survey, regression analysis, and correlation analysis probe into the effects of the special resources and relationships among industrial clusters on corporate knowledge management and innovation performance. Knowledge management emerges as the mediator of industry clusters in terms of corporate innovation performance, thus providing support for the research hypotheses. The findings of this study are valuable for further research and strategic thinking on the sustainability of corporate operations.     

Advanced Auto-Engineering: A Technology-Led UK Cluster

Advanced auto-engineering firms in Britain dominate racecar engineering worldwide. They also play an important role in transmitting technology developed in the aerospace/defence industries to the price-oriented volume-car industry. But how sustainable is this famous cluster of specialist firms? Tobacco sponsorship is on the way out and the aerospace and defence industries on which they have depended for their technological edge face an uncertain future. This article chronicles the development of the industry from its roots in Britain's aeronauttical history and then assesses its value as an example of clustering.     

公共景区门票价格上涨的福利经济学分析——基于正外部性的视角

旅游日益成为寻常百姓生活的重要内容,而且也是经济发展的重要推动力。然而,最近10多年景区不断上涨的门票价格严重阻碍我国旅游经济的健康发展。公共景区门票涨价,虽然会给公园及地方政府带来一定效益,但其综合影响仍是整个社会经济福利的净损失。原因是门票涨价没有考虑公共景区及旅游的正外部性。从经济福利最大化的目的出发,我国公共景区管理的改革方向应该是大幅降低门票价格或完全取消门票、集中管理全国A级景区以及中央政府全额拨款用于公共景区的维护管理。这样,我国旅游业才能从门票经济向旅游经济转变。     

The endogenous role of location choice in product innovations

The location choice of product innovations is a prevalent phenomenon one that has received little attention in the literature. This study examines the ways in which comparative industry environment, technology and product characteristics, and entry timing affect the firm's location choice of new product development activities between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries and the implications of location choice for performance. Our findings indicate that: (1) firms are more likely to locate their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries in mainland China than at headquarters in Taiwan when the industry environment at foreign subsidiaries is more favorable, when technologies and products are more mature, and when the entry to mainland China's market is earlier than that of its competitors; (2) in general, firms locating their new product development activities at headquarters in Taiwan perform better than firms locating their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries in mainland China after controlling for endogeneity bias; (3) firms locating their new product development activities at headquarters (at foreign subsidiaries) perform better than if they had located their new product development activities at foreign subsidiaries (at headquarters). Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

The potential for technology and knowledge transfers between foreign and local firms: A study of the construction industry in Ghana

Multinational corporations (MNCs) and other foreign firms can be conduits for technology and knowledge (T&K) transfer to host countries in the developing world. Most of the existing research focuses on T&K transfers through FDI and are drawn from Asia not Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), although SSA is increasingly receiving foreign investment. There is a paucity of research that gives insights into project-level T&K transfer issues in SSA countries. Using the Ghanaian construction industry as an empirical focus, this article explores T&K transfer potential. The findings reveal significant weaknesses in T&K transfer across industry subsectors and between foreign and local firms. This arises from the potentially complementary but dissimilar resource and knowledge bases. The weaknesses are compounded by the absence of coherent government T&K development policies.     

供给侧改革背景下新兴经济体发展现实比较及延伸思考

经济全球化促进了经济要素全球范围的广泛流动,也催生出了一些发展速度快、对全球影响较大的新兴经济体。研究发现:中国、巴西、俄罗斯、印度、南非这些新兴经济体的人均GDP在时间上发生了显著性变化,各个新兴经济体间的人均GDP也存在显著性差别。近十年间,中国经济增长基本保持了平稳状态,GDP的增长率波动不大,巴西、俄罗斯、印度以及南非经济增长波动均较大;中国与其他新兴经济体的货物与服务进出口、国外直接投资均没有显著的相关关系,彼此间影响也不明显。未来中国需要进一步优化产业结构,加强生态、制度环境建设,推动经济社会的全面进步;要加快新一轮高水平对外开放,拓展国际合作空间,建成开放型经济体;促进机会平等,走包容性经济增长之路,实现经济社会可持续发展。     

FDI与我国内资企业自主创新互动关系的实证分析

本文通过对1999-2007年行业面板数据的回归分析,验证了利用FDI对我国内资企业自主创新的影响。研究发现:FDI对自主创新具有正向促进功能,尤其在市场竞争激烈、内外资企业技术差距不大的行业,FDI对内资企业自主创新的推动作用更加明显;内资企业科研经费投入量与FDI推动自主创新效果存在显著相关性。我国在制订相关政策时,不仅应将利用FDI与自主创新结合起来考虑,而且在产业政策导向,以及促进科研经费投入等方面均需做出相应调整。     

Inward investment and industrial competitiveness

Inward investment—foreign direct investment in subsidiaries and joint ventures—has played an important part in Europe's post-war development as multinational firms, particularly American multinationals, became a major feature of many European economies. Latterly, we have seen an increasing presence also from Japan and other South-East Asian countries, as well as a resurgence of intra-European investment. What has been the effect of this on the competitiveness of European industry?     

政府推动物流业发展的国外经验借鉴

在现代物流发展过程中,发达国家特别是美国、日本、德国已经形成了一套完整的物流发展体系,并成为这些国家赢得竞争优势的"第三利润源",其发展经验在全球范围内受到广泛关注。我国物流业起步较晚,发展水平较低,目前正处在加快发展阶段。为进一步推动现代物流业发展,我们应在对发达国家物流业发展历程进行分析的基础上,借鉴发达国家经验,充分发挥政府在物流业发展中的重要作用,完善物流相关政策法规体系,加强对公共物流基础设施的支持,加快推动物流园区发展,促进多式联运发展,推进物流信息化,建立物流标准体系,推动现代物流技术的研发和推广应用。     

科技社团助力“双创”和“科创中国”分析——以泉州纺织服饰产业新型研发平台为例

在国家“双创”战略背景下，为深入贯彻习近平总书记关于统筹疫情防控和经济社会发展的重要指示，中国科协以促进科技经济深度融合为目标，开展“科创中国”工作。通过对科技社团促进科技经济融合的分析和实地调研，认为中国纺织工程学会参与建立的“一馆一院两中心”泉州纺织服饰产业综合公共服务平台，有力地支持了地方纺织服饰企业创新转型升级，是一种有效的产学研融合的组织机制，作为新型研发组织，其经验值得借鉴推广。     

Co-evolution of institutional and organizational factors in explaining offshore outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing of business functions is widely practiced by firms in advanced economies. Although scholars have argued for various theoretical perspectives in explaining its nature and implications, a coherent explanation of how crucial factors that aid this growing phenomenon coevolve has not been offered. Further, a potential gap in the extant literature concerns inadequate simultaneous attention to clients and providers – the key actors in offshore outsourcing. With an aim to fulfill these research gaps, we provide in this paper an integrated framework wherein we delineate various institutional and organizational factors that coevolve to enable engagement of clients and providers in offshore outsourcing. Our conceptualization draws from information obtained by interviewing 46 executives of 31 firms of the Indian business process outsourcing industry.     

高新技术产业：湖南新型工业化的强大引擎

高新技术产业是湖南新型工业化的强大引擎,湖南新型工业化的推进依赖于高新技术产业的拉动,发展高新技术产业是湖南推进新型工业化的重要着力点。通过分析湖南高新技术产业滞后新型工业化进程的现状．明确了湖南高新技术产业今后的发展思路在于确立高新技术产业的发展重心,加强高科技园区建设,促进产学研结合。     

Industrial Policies in France: The Old and the New

Industrial policy is mainly sector based in France, moulding industrial specialization and often promoting “grand projects.” It intended to make use of economies of scale, specifically in technologically sophisticated sectors and has been labelled as High Tech Colbertism. The European unification and the Single Market Programme has to some extent converted European industrial policy to the horizontal approach, banning sectoral activities, promoting framework policies, and a sound macro economic policy. The Lisbon strategy then designed a new agenda for growth which acknowledged a gap in competitiveness relative to the USA. In France new initiatives were launched in the past decade, which to some extent are echoing the French type of industrial policy. Regional cluster programs (“poles de competitivité”) were introduced, an industrial innovation agency and a national research agency were founded and the Oseo program promotes small and medium firms. The history, preconditions and chances of the new initiatives are analysed.     

Export Barriers and Competitiveness of Developing Economies: The Case of the Ethiopian Leather Footwear Industry

Export competitiveness is an important success factor for developing economies. However, several barriers can prevent firms from exporting. This study empirically investigates export barriers in the Ethiopian leather footwear industry. We identify 10 conceptually linked barriers that are prevalent in the industry. Whereas some of the export barriers are in line with previous research, we find several new barriers such as logistics and export marketing. On the firm level, we identify different clusters of firms that are facing specific sub-sets of barriers. Depending on cluster membership, management must focus on certain export barriers for increasing competitiveness.     

以现代物流为主导的园区产业集群构建研究

本文以现代物流理念为主导,结合长沙金霞现代物流园区产业构建实践,将物流发展与产业集群构建相融合,针对现代物流园区产业集群含义、优势、发展对策等方面进行相关研究,以促进物流园区的产业聚集化发展,进而促进区域经济的发展。     

Knowledge and the Climate Change Issue: An Exploratory Study of Cluster and Extra-Cluster Effects

Climate change, while potentially impacting many industries, appears to have considerable significance to the wine industry. Yet little is known about how firms acquire knowledge and gain an understanding of climate change and its impacts. This study, exploratory in nature and studying firms from the wine-producing region of Tasmania, is one of the first in the management literature to use cluster theory to examine the climate change issue. Firms are predicted to exchange knowledge about climate change more readily with other firms internal to the sub-cluster than with those external to the sub-cluster. The hypothesis does not find support. The study also proposes that the different characteristics of knowledge can either increase or decrease their flows in and around clusters. Specifically, “public” knowledge about climate change is predicted to flow more freely than “private” knowledge about climate change. The hypothesis does not find support. Finally, firms are expected to acquire knowledge about climate change from sources other than cluster-entrenched firms, and in particular peak national industry bodies. The hypothesis finds partial support. A discussion of the findings is presented along with future research directions.     

Guanxi and its influence on the judgments of Chinese auditors

Over a decade ago China launched a large-scale programme to develop science parks with on site business incubators. A major goal of this project was to redesign the economic architecture by creating institutions that would greatly improve the nation's innovation system. Science parks, following the western model, were considered appropriate institutions. This is because they could harness China's many public research institutes and universities and so help promote both existing indigenous firms and emerging new technology-based private firms. Since its inception, however, the programme has evolved to serve multiple purposes, of which innovation system reform is arguably only one, minor goal. This article investigates the evolution of China's two-pronged strategy to develop science parks and business incubators in pursuit of institutional reform of its innovation system.     

Partnering with universities: a good choice for nanotechnology start-up firms?

The role of universities in supporting economic development has been explored in studies emphasizing the mechanisms of technology transfer and knowledge spillover. However, in addition to these forms of intellectual capital, university scientists bring other resources into research collaboration and contribute to firm partnerships in both direct and indirect ways. This paper develops the concept of resource spillover, which captures the various ways in which firms can benefit from collaborations with university scientists. The study categorizes the resources possessed by university scientists into intellectual capital, social capital, and positional capital, and tests the impact of each on the performance of firms. Using a sample of new nanotechnology-based firms in the USA, the study finds that the benefits to firms from university scientist research collaboration include enhancements to perceived research capacity and technology potential, which in turn may increase chances of securing external funding.