Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:04:04.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technology Decomposition and Technology Recombination in Industrial Catch-up for Large Emerging Economies: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2021

Xiaoling Chen ,
Bin Guo ,
Jingjing Guo  and
Wen Helena Li
Xiaoling Chen
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University of Technology, China
Bin Guo
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, China
Jingjing Guo*
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Wen Helena Li
Affiliation:
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Jingjing Guo ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The influence of technological learning on industry-level catch-up has long drawn substantial attention in the catch-up research field. However, the underlying mechanisms of technological learning and the unique catch-up context in large emerging economies are much less explored. To explain the technological learning processes of latecomers that face the technology gap and strive to build differentiated competitive advantage, this study builds on the absorptive capacity perspective and deconstructs technological learning processes into two mechanisms: technology decomposition and technology recombination. The former entails decomposing advanced technologies into pieces, parts, or modules, while the latter entails the process of capturing market opportunities through recombining knowledge from diverse sources into commercial products through localized innovations and adaptations. Then, we propose a unique ‘ladder-like’ catch-up context (i.e., technology ladder and market ladder) and investigate how the technological learning process and the unique catch-up context jointly affect industrial catch-up performance in China. Using seven-year panel data from Chinese manufacturing industries, the results indicate that only technology recombination has a significantly positive relationship with industrial catch-up performance. In addition, the market ladder strengthens the positive impact of technology recombination on industrial catch-up, while the technology ladder weakens the positive impact of technology decomposition on catch-up.

摘要

已有文献较多关注了技术学习对产业追赶的影响，但对于大型新兴经济体中后发者的技术学习机制以及独特的追赶情境仍缺乏深入探讨。本文从吸收能力视角出发，指出后发者主要通过技术解构和技术重构进行技术学习，以缩小技术差距、构建差异化竞争优势。技术解构指分解复杂技术，从而掌握该技术架构并理解零部件或模块的功能或原理；技术重构指在产品开发中整合多种来源的知识，进行本地化创新或适应性改进，从而抓住市场机会。进一步，本研究通过技术梯度和市场梯度刻画大型新兴经济体独特的追赶情境，并检验技术学习与产业情境对产业追赶绩效的共同影响。基于中国制造业细分行业七年的面板数据，本研究的实证结果显示，技术重构正向影响产业追赶绩效，并且市场梯度会强化该正效应；技术解构对产业追赶绩效的影响不显著，但技术梯度会负向调节该影响。

Аннотация

Значение освоения технологий для сокращения промышленного отставания уже давно привлекает большое внимание специалистов в области исследований по догоняющему развитию. Однако, глубинные механизмы освоения технологий и уникальные условия догоняющего развития в больших странах с развивающейся экономикой изучены гораздо меньше. С целью прояснить процессы освоения технологий в странах, которые позже других стали на путь индустриализации, столкнулись с технологическим разрывом и стремятся создать особое конкурентное преимущество, проводится это исследование, которое основано на концепции поглощающей способности и разбирает процессы освоения технологий на два механизма: декомпозицию технологий и рекомбинацию технологий. Первый механизм подразумевает разложение передовых технологий на составные части, детали или модули, в то время как второй механизм подразумевает процесс использования рыночных возможностей с помощью объединения знаний из различных источников в коммерческие продукты посредством локальных инноваций и адаптаций. Далее, мы предлагаем уникальное понятие «лестницы» для догоняющего развития (т. е. технологическую лестницу и рыночную лестницу) и исследуем, как процесс освоения технологий и уникальные условия догоняющего развития могут совместно влиять на показатели догоняющего развития промышленности в Китае. Результаты семилетних панельных данных по обрабатывающей промышленности в Китае показывают, что только рекомбинация технологий оказывает значительное положительное влияние на результаты догоняющего развития в отрасли. Более того, рыночная лестница усиливает положительное влияние рекомбинации технологий на догоняющее развитие в отрасли, в то время как технологическая лестница ослабляет положительное влияние декомпозиции технологий на догоняющее развитие.

Resumen

La influencia del aprendizaje tecnológico en la convergencia (catch-up en inglés) a nivel de la industria ha tenido gran atención en el campo de investigación sobre la convergencia. Sin embargo, los mecanismos subyacentes de aprendizaje tecnológico y el contexto único de la convergencia en las grandes economías emergentes están mucho menos exploradas. Para explicar los procesos tecnológicos de los rezagados que se enfrentan a la brecha tecnológica y se esfuerzan por construir una ventaja competitiva diferenciada, este estudio se basa en la perspectiva de capacidad de absorción y deconstruye los procesos de aprendizaje tecnológico en dos mecanismos: la descomposición tecnológica y la recombinación tecnológica. La primera supone la descomposición de tecnologías avanzadas en piezas, partes o módulos, mientras que el segundo supone el proceso de captura de oportunidades de mercado mediante la recombinación del conocimiento de fuentes diversas en productos comerciales mediante innovaciones localizadas y adaptaciones. Después, proponemos un contexto único de convergencia “tipo escalera” (es decir, escalera tecnológica y escalera de mercado) e investigamos cómo el proceso de aprendizaje tecnológico y el contexto único de convergencia afectan conjuntamente el desempeño de la convergencia industrial en China. Usando datos de panel de siete años de industrias manufactureras chinas, los resultados indican solamente la recombinación de tecnología tiene una relación significativamente positiva con el desempeño de convergencia industrial. Además, la escalera de mercado refuerza el impacto de la recombinación de tecnología en la convergencia industrial, mientras que la escalera de tecnología debilita el impacto positivo de la descomposición tecnológica en la convergencia.

Keywords

catch-upemerging marketsmarket laddertechnological learningtechnology ladder技术学习技术梯度市场梯度追赶新兴经济体догоняющее развитиеразвивающиеся рынкирыночная лестницаосвоение технологийтехнологическая лестницаcatch-upconvergenciamercados emergentesescalera de mercadoaprendizaje tecnológico
Type
Article
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 167 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The International Association for Chinese Management Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

ACCEPTED BY Senior Editor Lin Cui

References

REFERENCES

Acar, W., & Sankaran, K. 1999. The myth of the unique decomposability: Specializing the herfindahl and entropy measures? Strategic Management Journal, 10(20): 969–975.10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199910)20:10<969::AID-SMJ57>3.0.CO;2-03.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arts, S., & Veugelers, R. 2014. Technology familiarity, recombinant novelty, and breakthrough invention. Industrial and Corporate Change, 24(6): 1215–1246.10.1093/icc/dtu029CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Awate, S., Larsen, M. M., & Mudambi, R. 2012. EMNE catch-up strategies in the wind turbine industry: Is there a trade-off between output and innovation capabilities? Global Strategy Journal, 2(3): 205–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balasubramanian, N., & Lieberman, M. B. 2010. Industry learning environments and the heterogeneity of firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 31(4): 390–412.Google Scholar
Bell, M., & Figueiredo, P. N. 2012. Building innovative capabilities in latecomer emerging market firms: Some key issues. In Amann, E. & Cantwell, J. (Eds.), Innovative firms in emerging market countries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brandt, L., & Thun, E. 2016. Constructing a ladder for growth: Policy, markets, and industrial upgrading in China. World Development, 80: 78–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, L., Biesebroeck, J. V., & Zhang, Y. 2012. Creative accounting or creative destruction? Firm-level productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing. Journal of Development Economics, 97(2): 339–351.10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.02.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breusch, T. S., & Pagan, A. R. 1980. The lagrange multiplier test and its applications to model specification in econometrics. The Review of Economic Studies, 47(1): 239–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckley, P. J., & Hashai, N. 2014. The role of technological catch up and domestic market growth in the genesis of emerging country based multinationals. Research Policy, 43(2): 423–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butollo, F., & Ten Brink, T. 2018. A great leap? Domestic market growth and local state support in the upgrading of China's LED lighting industry. Global Networks-a Journal of Transnational Affairs, 18(2): 285–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlile, P. R., & Rebentisch, E. S. 2003. Into the black box: The knowledge transformation cycle. Management Science, 49(9): 1180–1195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatterjee, D., & Sahasranamam, S. 2018. Technological innovation research in China and India: A bibliometric analysis for the period 1991–2015. Management and Organization Review, 14(1): 179–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, L. C. 2009. Learning through informal local and global linkages: The case of Taiwan's machine tool industry. Research Policy, 38(3): 527–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, K. M., & Liu, R. J. 2005. Interface strategies in modular product innovation. Technovation, 25(7): 771–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choung, J. Y., Hwang, H. R., & Song, W. 2014. Transitions of innovation activities in latecomer countries: An exploratory case study of South Korea. World Development, 54: 156–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, M. Y., & Lee, K. 2015. How absorptive capacity is formed in a latecomer economy: Different roles of foreign patent and know-how licensing in Korea. World Development, 66: 678–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. 1990. Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 128–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cui, L., & Jiang, F. 2012. State ownership effect on firms' FDI ownership decisions under institutional pressure: A study of Chinese outward-investing firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(3): 264–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driscoll, J. C., & Kraay, A. C. 1998. Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Review of Economics and Statistics, 80(4): 549–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du, J., & Mickiewicz, T. 2016. Subsidies, rent seeking and performance: Being young, small or private in China. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(1): 22–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagerberg, J., Srholec, M., & Knell, M. 2007. The competitiveness of nations: Why some countries prosper while others fall behind. World Development, 35(10): 1595–1620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, G., Wang, X., & Zhu, H. 2010. NERI index of marketization of China's provinces, 2009 report. Beijing: Economics Science Press.Google Scholar
Figueiredo, P. N. 2003. Learning, capability accumulation and firms differences: Evidence from latecomer steel. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12(3): 607–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figueiredo, P. N., & Cohen, M. 2019. Explaining early entry into path-creation technological catch-up in the forestry and pulp industry: Evidence from Brazil. Research Policy, 48(7): 1694–1713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, B. B., Schaeffer, P. R., & Vonortas, N. S. 2019. Evolution of university-industry collaboration in Brazil from a technology upgrading perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 145: 330–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gadiesh, O., Leung, P., & Vestring, T. 2007. The battle for China's good-enough market. Harvard Business Review, 85(9): 80–90.Google Scholar
Garud, R., & Nayyar, P. R. 1994. Transformative capacity: Continual structuring by intertemporal technology transfer. Strategic Management Journal, 15(5): 365–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guan, J. C., & Yan, Y. 2016. Technological proximity and recombinative innovation in the alternative energy field. Research Policy, 45(7): 1460–1473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guennif, S., & Ramani, S. V. 2012. Explaining divergence in catching-up in pharma between India and Brazil using the NSI framework. Research Policy, 41(2): 430–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, B. 2008. Technology acquisition channels and industry performance: An industry-level analysis of Chinese large-and medium-size manufacturing enterprises. Research Policy, 37(2): 194–209.Google Scholar
Guo, B., & Chen, X. 2013. Learning by decomposition and recombination in technological catching-up: A case study of a Chinese leading air separator system manufacturer, 1978–2008. International Journal of Product Development, 18(3/4): 344–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, L., Zhang, M. Y., Dodgson, M., Gann, D., & Cai, H. 2019. Seizing windows of opportunity by using technology-building and market-seeking strategies in tandem: Huawei's sustained catch-up in the global market. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 36(3): 849–879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, Y. T., & Zheng, G. 2019. How do firms upgrade capabilities for systemic catch-up in the open innovation context? A multiple-case study of three leading home appliance companies in China. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 144: 36–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, M., & Harrison, A. 1993. Are there positive spillovers from direct foreign investment? Journal of Development Economics, 42(1): 51–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagedoorn, J., & Cloodt, M. 2003. Measuring innovative performance: Is there an advantage in using multiple indicators? Research Policy, 32(8): 1365–1379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmann, S. 2018. Red swan: How unorthodox policy making facilitated China's rise. Hong Kong, China: The Chinese University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, R. M., & Clark, K. B. 1990. Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 9–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jang, S. L., Lo, S., & Chang, W. H. 2009. How do latecomers catch up with forerunners? Analysis of patents and patent citations in the field of flat panel display technologies. Scientometrics, 79(3): 563–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, G. H., & Rawski, T. G. 1994. Enterprise reform in Chinese industry. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8(2): 47–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jung, M., & Lee, K. 2010. Sectoral systems of innovation and productivity catch-up: Determinants of the productivity gap between Korean and Japanese firms. Industrial and Corporate Change, 19(4): 1037–1069.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keupp, M. M., & Gassmann, O. 2013. Resource constraints as triggers of radical innovation: Longitudinal evidence from the manufacturing sector. Research Policy, 42(8): 1457–1468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, L. 1997. Imitation to innovation: The dynamics of Korea's technological learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar
Kim, L. 1998. Crisis construction and organizational learning: Capability building in catching-up at Hyundai Motor. Organization Science, 9(4): 506–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kogut, B., & Zander, U. 1992. Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3(3): 383–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, P. J., Koka, B. R., & Pathak, S. 2006. The reification of absorbtive capacity: A critical review and rejuvenation of the construct. Academy of Management Review, 31(4): 833–863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K. 2013. Schumpeterian analysis of economic catch-up: Knowledge, path-creation, and the middle-income trap. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., & Ki, J. H. 2017. Rise of latecomers and catch-up cycles in the world steel industry. Research Policy, 46(2): 365–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., & Lim, C. S. 2001. Technological regimes, catching-up and leapfrogging: Findings from the Korean industries. Research Policy, 30(3): 459–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., & Malerba, F. 2017. Catch-up cycles and changes in industrial leadership: Windows of opportunity and responses of firms and countries in the evolution of sectoral systems. Research Policy, 46(2): 338–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., Cho, S.-J., & Jin, J. 2009. Dynamics of catch-up in mobile phones and automobiles in China: Sectoral systems of innovation perspective. China Economic Journal, 2(1): 25–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., Gao, X. D., & Li, X. B. 2017. Industrial catch-up in China: A sectoral systems of innovation perspective. Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society, 10(1): 59–76.Google Scholar
Lee, K., Lim, C., & Song, W. 2005. Emerging digital technology as a window of opportunity and technological leapfrogging: Catch-up in digital TV by the Korean firms. International Journal of Technology Management, 29(1–2): 40–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., Park, T. Y., & Krishnan, R. T. 2014. Catching-up or leapfrogging in the Indian IT service sector: Windows of opportunity, path-creating, and moving up the value chain. Development Policy Review, 32(4): 495–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewin, A. Y., Massini, S., & Peeters, C. 2011. Microfoundations of internal and external absorptive capacity routines. Organization Science, 22(1): 81–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, D. T., Capone, G., & Malerba, F. 2019. The long march to catch-up: A history-friendly model of China's mobile communications industry. Research Policy, 48(3): 649–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liefner, I., Si, Y. F., & Schafer, K. 2019. A latecomer firm's R&D collaboration with advanced country universities and research institutes: The case of Huawei in Germany. Technovation, 86–87: 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X., & White, R. S. 1997. The relative contributions of foreign technology and domestic inputs to innovation in Chinese manufacturing industries. Technovation, 17(3): 119–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Ying, Y., & Wu, X. 2017. Catch-up through collaborative innovation: Evidence from China. Thunderbird International Business Review, 59(4): 533–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, Y., & Child, J. 2015. A composition-based view of firm growth. Management and Organization Review, 11(3): 379–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyu, Y. P., Lin, H. L., Ho, C. C., & Yang, C. H. 2019. Assembly trade and technological catch-up: Evidence from electronics firms in China. Journal of Asian Economics, 62: 65–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathews, J. A., & Cho, D. S. 1999. Combinative capabilities and organizational learning in latecomer firms: The case of the Korean semiconductor industry. Journal of World Business, 34(2): 139–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzoleni, R., & Nelson, R. R. 2007. Public research institutions and economic catch-up. Research Policy, 36(10): 1512–1528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, K., van Witteloostuijn, A., & Beugelsdijk, S. 2017. What's in a p? Reassessing best practices for conducting and reporting hypothesis-testing research. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(5): 535–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miao, Y., Song, J., Lee, K., & Jin, C. 2018. Technological catch-up by east Asian firms: Trends, issues, and future research agenda. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 35(3): 639–669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mu, Q., & Lee, K. 2005. Knowledge diffusion, market segmentation and technological catch-up: The case of the telecommunication industry in China. Research Policy, 34(6): 759–783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, S. H., Li, S., & Tse, D. K. 2006. Market liberalization and firm performance during China's economic transition. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(1): 127–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, P. K., Ray, S., & Kumar, V. 2017. Internationalization of latecomer firms from emerging economies–The role of resultant and autonomous learning. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 34(4): 851–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryall, M. D. 2009. Causal ambiguity, complexity, and capability-based advantage. Management Science, 55(3): 389–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, J. W. 2008. The impact of multinational enterprise strategy on indigenous enterprises: Horizontal spillovers and crowding out in developing countries. Academy of Management Review, 33(2): 341–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thun, E. 2018. Innovation at the middle of the pyramid: State policy, market segmentation, and the Chinese automotive sector. Technovation, 70–71: 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tzeng, C. H. 2018. How domestic firms absorb spillovers: A routine-based model of absorptive capacity view. Management and Organization Review, 14(3): 543–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, K. 1995. The role of product architecture in the manufacturing firm. Research Policy, 24(3): 419–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vind, I. 2008. Transnational companies as a source of skill upgrading: The electronics industry in Ho Chi Minh City. Geoforum, 39(3): 1480–1493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., & Li, Y. J. 2014. When does inward technology licensing facilitate firms' NPD performance? A contingency perspective. Technovation, 34(1): 44–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., Roijakkers, N., & Vanhaverbeke, W. 2014. How fast do Chinese firms learn and catch up? Evidence from patent citations. Scientometrics, 98(1): 743–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, J., Wang, D., & Liu, Y. 2018. Towards an asymmetry-based view of Chinese firms' technological catch-up. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 12(1):12–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiao, Y. G., Tylecote, A., & Liu, J. J. 2013. Why not greater catch-up by Chinese firms? The impact of IPR, corporate governance and technology intensity on late-comer strategies. Research Policy, 42(3): 749–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yap, X. S., & Truffer, B. 2019. Shaping selection environments for industrial catch-up and sustainability transitions: A systemic perspective on endogenizing windows of opportunity. Research Policy, 48(4): 1030–1047.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahra, S. A., & George, G. 2002. Absorptive capacity: A review, reconceptualization, and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27(2): 185–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeschky, M., Widenmayer, B., & Gassmann, O. 2011. Frugal innovation in emerging markets: The case of Mettler Toledo. Research–Technology Management, 54(4): 38–45.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y., Li, H., Li, Y., & Zhou, L. A. 2010. FDI spillovers in an emerging market: The role of foreign firms' country origin diversity and domestic firms' absorptive capacity. Strategic Management Journal, 31(9): 969–989.Google Scholar
Zhou, K., Gao, G., & Zhao, H. 2017. State ownership and firm innovation in China: An integrated view of institutional and efficiency logics. Administrative Science Quarterly, 62(2): 375–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar