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The purpose of this paper is to econometrically examine whether indigenous enterprises can upgrade under open economy by using micro-firm data.

In order to make clear the impact of outward development on the indigenous manufacturing export enterprises' productivity from micro level and to propose policy recommendation, the research group selected indigenous manufacturing export enterprises in Kunshan China as research objects and made a large-scale survey. Based on micro-firm data from survey, the paper carries out empirical analysis.

After controlling some other variables including innovation activity, human capital and enterprises scale, empirical result shows that export activity, establishing connections with FDI enterprises, industry clusters formed under open economy all have significant and positive effect on upgrading of indigenous enterprises.

This paper is the first to use micro-firm data obtained from survey to examine factors affecting indigenous enterprises' upgrading capability of China.

For the studies whose purposes are to evaluate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation activities of the enterprises, there are some limitations in the measures of industrial characteristics and using traditional statistical techniques. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries using grey system theory. The research results show that grey system theory is suitable to investigate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries.

This paper proposes the measures of industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities of high-tech enterprises. First, based on the data on Chinese large and medium-sized high-tech enterprises for the period of 2011-2013, this paper applies grey relational analysis to identify the relatively most important indexes on affecting innovation capabilities of Chinese high-tech enterprises. Second, based on the results from grey relational analysis, this study draws a ranking of the five Chinese high-tech industries in terms of innovation capabilities by grey decision making. Finally, based on the results from grey decision making, this study applies GM (0, N) model to investigate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries.

The results of this study show that in the evaluation indexes system of innovation capabilities of high-tech enterprises, personnel in R & D institutions, R & D personnel, internal expenditure on R & D, expenditure on new product development, expenditure on technology imports, expenditure on technology renovation, and expenditure on technology assimilation and absorption are relatively most important elements affecting innovation capabilities of Chinese high-tech enterprises. In addition, the two top ranking on innovation capabilities are manufacture of electronic equipment and communication equipment, and manufacture of medicines. At last, the findings indicate that in the measures of industrial characteristics, the three top ranking on affecting innovation capabilities of Chinese high-tech enterprises are R & D intensity, technology absorption intensity of indigenous high-tech enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises size. The opening level is in the middle position. Technology intensity, market concentration, and state-owned enterprises size are the three bottom ranking on affecting innovation capabilities of Chinese high-tech enterprises.

This study has some limitations. First, this study is limited to Chinese high-tech industries. The findings may not be applicable to other countries’ high-tech industries. Further studies with other countries’ high-tech industries could be extended and examined how industrial characteristics affect innovation capabilities of the firms in these industries. Second, the measures of industrial characteristics proposed in this study are somewhat theoretically weak. In the future, the authors will further improve the current analysis, and develop the measures of industrial characteristics. Finally, with the advent of the more data with the consistent statistical coverage released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics during the more continuous years, other methods, such as panel data regression model in econometrics could be used to evaluate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries. By then, the scholars can compare the results from grey system theory and those from panel data regression model in econometrics.

Appropriate industrial environment is favorable for Chinese high-tech enterprises to feed their innovation capabilities. Scientific evaluation on the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries is of great significance for Chinese high-tech enterprises in exerting technological catch-up and promoting their competitive advantage. The purposed measures of industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities of high-tech enterprises in this paper, and combined methodology based on grey system theory could be applied to evaluate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities of Chinese high-tech enterprises.

This paper proposes the measures of industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities of high-tech enterprises, and uses grey system theory to evaluate the relationship between industrial characteristics and innovation capabilities within Chinese high-tech industries.

The paper aimed to summarize innovative rules of Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and put forward some insights in optimal allocation of innovation resources and enhancing the capability of indigenous innovation, so as to overcome the innovation dilemma.

Having diagnosed the current research of innovation flows, the authors defined the concept and stated characteristics of mainstream and new‐stream innovation. Innovation life cycle theory and technology trajectory theory were used to map two evolution patterns of mainstream and new‐stream innovation. It took weeks to stay in firms to obtain original data and interview managers, engineers, and mechanists. From the case study the authors proposed the improvement projects and opportunities for firms to overcome the “innovation dilemma”.

In the indigenous innovation process, enterprises should breed new‐stream innovation as they strengthen the mainstream innovation, view the new‐stream technology as the innovation direction, and fulfill the constant innovation in the convergent innovation and replace evolution process. Meanwhile, enterprises should take precautions both to expand and develop, and fulfill technology transition and innovation upgrade through convergent innovation. Furthermore, firms' convergent innovation, which will finally achieve the “projects‐talents‐products‐markets” collaborative innovation, should be clear about target market and project‐oriented, take the product as the carrier, and be committed to cultivate creative talents and innovative teams.

This paper enriches the existing theory on indigenous innovation by introducing the new concept of mainstream and new‐stream innovation. The findings would help firms to jump out from the innovation morass.

This paper aims to explore the complete process and underlying mechanism that social enterprises obtain legitimacy during interactions with stakeholders from theoretical integration of institutional theory and organization ecology perspective.

Based on theoretical classification, this paper selects six typical Chinese social enterprises and conducts a multi-case analysis.

The study finds that social enterprises aim at legitimizing single entity or industry and shaping stakeholders’ cognitive boundary simultaneously. Therefore, by adopting constrained cooperation and competition activities, social enterprises use normative isomorphism to achieve personal legitimation and combining ecological niche construction, social enterprises achieve organizational legitimation. By adopting fragmented cooperation-dominant or competition-dominant activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism supplemented by competitive isomorphism or population structure creation to obtain industry legitimation. By adopting dynamically integrated coopetition activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism and reflexive isomorphism to reach field legitimation.

This paper proposes a mechanism model that the coopetition with stakeholders influences the legitimation process, identifies four stages of social enterprise’s legitimation process and the types of legitimacy obtained in each stage and fills the gap of Chinese indigenous social enterprise research.

The aim of this research is to explore the behavioral model of Chinese organizational leaders acquiring resources for the development of their organizations under the influence of hierarchically oriented social governance.

The paper compares the differences between Western and Chinese contexts and conducts a grounded multi-case study to explore leadership behavioral model in the Chinese context.

First, the Chinese social governance structure is hierarchically oriented, whereas the Western social governance structure is market oriented. Second, this unique inconformity found in the Chinese organizational leaders as contorted leadership, which refers to the inconsistency between leaders’ cognition and their behavior when acquiring resources for the development of their organizations, is defined. Third, the conflict between leaders’ cognition and behaviors is caused by the social governance mechanism within which leaders are embedded.

The authors have just made a first step to understand contorted leadership in the Chinese context, further researches should pay more attention to exploring the origins, functions and impacts of leaders’ contorted behaviors.

First, leadership is linked with social governance by emphasizing on the core role of social governance in allocating the resources which organizational leaders scramble for. Second, a new kind of leadership –contorted leadership – in the Chinese context that emphasizes on the contradiction between leaders’ cognition and behavior, which deepens the understanding of leadership contextualization, is identified.

The increasing number of cases of developing country multinational enterprises (MNEs) buying assets from developed countries through merger and acquisition (M&A) calls for more systematic evidences on this area. As a typical and representative developing country, China has already drawn the world's attention with several high-profile cross-border M&As in recent years. By examining the recent evidences of Chinese outward M&A, this chapter reviews the main motivations of outward M&A among state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs, and presents an overall picture of China's outward M&A in the last decade. In doing so, this chapter intends to explore the crucial role played by the Chinese government in orchestrating its internationalization activities and the long-term implications on the competitiveness of Chinese firms in the global marketplace.

This study examines how consumers in China perceive and respond to company‐sponsored environmental advertising claims. Based on a survey of 914 Chinese respondents in Beijing and Guangzhou, the study has derived some important findings. First, it confirms the casual observation that environmental advertising has already been widely used in the country. Second, it indicates that Chinese consumers, in general, rate print environmental advertisements more favorably than broadcast ones. This is probably due to the pragmatic orientation of Chinese consumers, who consistently seek concrete and substantiated product information from advertisements to guide their shopping. Regression analyses on the collected data further reveal that “perceived credibility of the claim”, “relevance of the advertised product to daily lives”, “education level” and “media type” are all significant factors that would positively affect green purchase intention of Chinese consumers. In addition to providing researchers with further understanding of Chinese consumers' attitudinal and conative responses toward environmental advertising, these findings provide advertisers with useful insights into fine‐tuning their environmental advertising strategies in China.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between witnessing workplace bullying behavior and employee attitudes and intentions to turnover.

A sample of 150 full‐time employees from two mid‐sized indigenous private manufacturing plants from the province of Henan, China were surveyed at a single point in time.

Findings indicate a negative relationship between witnessing workplace bullying and employee satisfaction and commitment. In addition, strain and satisfaction fully mediate the relationship between witnessing workplace bullying and employee intention to turnover.

Given the link between witnessing workplace bullying and employee attitudes, it is important for Chinese managers to ensure that interactions with employees maintain a positive and professional tone.

The paper's findings suggest that it is not necessary for an employee to be the personal victim of bullying behavior, rather an employee need only be an observer of workplace bullying in order to experience increases in physical and emotional strain.

The paper assesses the extent to which China's comparative advantage in manufacturing has shifted towards higher‐tech sectors between 1987 and 2005 and proposes possible explanations for the shift.

Revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices for 27 product groups, representing high‐, medium and low‐tech sectors have been calculated. Examination of international market attractiveness complements the RCA analysis. Findings for selected sectors are evaluated in the context of other evidence.

While China maintains its competitiveness in low‐tech labour intensive products, it has gained RCA in selected medium‐tech sectors (e.g. office machines and electric machinery) and the high‐tech telecommunications and automatic data processing equipment sectors. Evidence from firm and sector specific studies suggests that improved comparative advantage in medium and high‐tech sectors is based on capabilities developing through combining international technology transfer and learning.

The quantitative analysis does not explain the shifts in comparative advantage, though the paper suggests possible explanations. Further research at firm and sector levels is required to understand the underlying capability development of Chinese enterprises and the relative competitiveness of Chinese and foreign invested enterprises.

Western companies should take account of capability development in China in forming their international manufacturing strategies. The rapid shifts in China's comparative advantage have lessons for other industrialising countries.

While RCA is a well‐known methodology, its application at the disaggregated product group level combined with market attractiveness assessment is distinctive. The paper provides a broad assessment of changes in Chinese manufacturing as a basis for further research on capability development at firm and sector levels.