Introduction to Innovative Capabilities and the Globalization of Chinese Firms

How do Chinese companies learn to innovate and compete on global markets? This book explores how Chinese firms are developing capabilities for innovation and globalization, in relation to their economic environment. Firms studied here are active in a variety of different industries, ranging from pharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence to transportation, telecommunication, and mechanical manufacturing. Taken together, the chapters in this book provide a conceptualization of one restricted part of the vast transformation ongoing in China. This book does not aim to cover all types of Chinese firms, nor all the transformations ongoing within China per se. Instead, our focus is upon the three intertwined processes involving innovation, technological capabilities, and globalization. Western countries have long taken the lead in developing knowledge and transforming it into business and social innovation, but in recent decades the Chinese economy has been rapidly advancing. Chinese firms are developing innovative capabilities and engaging in globalization, which affects not only China but also the world. Hence, this book only focuses upon a selected few Chinese firms and industries which already have shown to be – or are actively striving to become – world-leading in their technologies and markets. We are interested in why and how they use and develop advanced technology as well as how they can obtain economic returns on the market, often global markets. More generally, we have chosen to study firms and industries which are attempting to move the basis of their competitiveness from imitation to innovation; from being a player on a home market to a global market; and from being a follower to being an innovative leader. Our analysis places these firms in relation to the