{"title":"Has China Caught up in the Global Innovation Race?","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter shows how much China caught up in the global innovation race, using international indices of innovation performance, and data on R&D expenditures, higher education, scientific outputs, and patents. Frameworks such as ‘windows of opportunity’ are used to explore how China catches up in innovation and is changing policies from importing innovation to developing ‘indigenous innovation’. The bottlenecks confronting China’s catch-up and leadership are examined using the case of semiconductors, Huawei, and 5G, and the chapter poses the question whether the country can overcome such bottlenecks in core technologies. To do so, it is argued that greater investment is needed in basic research, especially by enterprises.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"82 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134254311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"China’s Mega Supply Chains","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explains the development and significance of China’s mega supply chains and their position in the global division of labour. It explains the importance of modularity, standardization, and complementarity in supply chains. It analyses how efficiencies and resilience are achieved and balanced in supply chains and the importance of platforms, both geographical clusters, such as industrial bases in Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Suzhou, and digital platforms, such as Alibaba and Pinduoduo. The chapter also argues that China’s mega supply chains have become regional hubs supplying intermediate products to manufacturing facilities in countries with lower labour costs. It discusses the extent to which China is progressing towards Industry 4.0, with smart supply chains, and how the country is responding to the challenges from growing global trade tensions.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122099215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"China’s Innovation Machine","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter sets the context of China’s innovation machine. It introduces its characteristics, including massive numbers of innovators embedded in China’s manufacturing and supply chains that offer efficiency, flexibility, and resilience; the emergence of the digital economy; and pragmatic government policies that have seen the nation progress from a period of catch-up with world leaders to a position of leadership in some fields. It explains the importance of Chinese culture for innovation and the ability of the nation to operate with ‘multiple institutional logics’ of state control and market forces. Challenges confronting China’s innovation machine are outlined, including in some areas of advanced technology and basic research, the fracturing of globalization, and the reascendancy of central planning.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130433698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chaotic Order","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores how order emerges from chaos in China’s innovation machine. It emphasizes how innovation is emergent, evolutionary, and complex and cannot be centrally planned and controlled. Innovation involves experimentation, the initial growth of which requires some protection, but the scale and scope of which can be rapidly amplified in an interdependent digital economy. The challenges facing the innovation machine are outlined. These include the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impending clash of political ideology between China and the West manifested by a technology cold war over issues such as technological standards. The chapter argues that, despite numerous shortcomings, China’s innovation machine is remarkably successful and robust and can even strengthen as result of external pressures. It does, however, face specific internal policy challenges, including whether the government can maintain the pragmatism of recent policies with continued development of the market, and strengthened transparency on the nature and purpose of China’s approach to innovation, and the nation’s greater assumption of leadership roles in international forums. How China handles these challenges will significantly impact the future of global economic development and political cooperation.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131310012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Institutional Logics in Innovation","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter analyses the different institutional logics surrounding China’s innovation machine, including the ‘visible hand’ of the state and ‘invisible hand’ of the market. The idea of innovation in China resulting from centralized decisions in government is shown to be a myth; instead, it results from the interaction of initial bottom-up innovations and subsequent top-down direction, support, or correction. The cultural roots of China’s multiple institutional logics are explained, including the role of hierarchy, the tolerance of ambiguity, and the search for unity. Balance is sought within Chinese bureaucracies, between central and local governments, and between formal and informal authority. The chapter analyses Chinese policy frameworks for science and technology, innovation, intellectual property, education and talent, environment, industry, and the reform of state-owned enterprises. A case study of the car industry is provided, focusing particularly on how policy instruments are used to encourage carmakers to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the new technology trajectory of new energy vehicles.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114914781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"China’s Digital Economy","authors":"M. Zhang, Mark Dodgson, David Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"China has one of the most advanced digital economies in the world. This chapter analyses the rise of China’s digital economy and the transformational effect of digital innovation on consumers and throughout China’s economy and society. The ‘platform of platforms’ created by leading firms is critical in China’s digital infrastructure, and the user data generated on these platforms is a new factor in Chinese productivity. The ability of the digital economy to build and address demand in China’s highly differentiated markets is shown in cases such as Xiaomi. The chapter reveals the zigzag pattern of iterative interactions between technology entrepreneurs and policymakers. It presents a detailed case study of mobile payments, explaining the dynamic interactions between firm strategies, user endorsements, and government policies. The rise of the ‘platform of platforms’ has raised concerns about user data safety and fair market competition. The chapter discusses the social and political implications arising from powerful platform firms in the digital economy. It concludes with discussion of the importance of future technologies, including artificial intelligence and the internet of things, especially their applications in the industry internet.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"219 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122850494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effectiveness-Based Manufacturing as a Foundation of China’s Innovation Machine","authors":"M. Zhang, M. Dodgson, D. Gann","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861171.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter demonstrates the importance of manufacturing in China’s innovation machine. It explains the history of China’s industrialization and how it overcame early challenges to become the ‘world’s factory’. It argues that China has since progressed to become the ‘world’s workshop’, with the capability and capacity to translating complex designs into products with engineering precision and with unmatchable speed and scale. Examples are provided of large overseas companies attracted to manufacture in China, such as Tesla and Apple. It also examines a new model of mass customization facilitated by the country’s super e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba and Pinduoduo, which connects consumers with hundreds of millions of SME manufacturers, including China’s ‘hidden champions’ in niche areas of manufacturing. Chinese manufacturing possesses significant strengths in its resilience and flexibility, building upon its highly skilled workforce and digital infrastructure. The chapter shows how China’s manufacturing is benefiting from recent trends that have moved production in global value chains to countries with lower labour costs.","PeriodicalId":146057,"journal":{"name":"Demystifying China's Innovation Machine","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114805927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}