Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of indigenous technological capability and interpersonal trust on product innovation through supply-chain learning under a dynamic environment.

The proposed model is tested with a sample of 300 manufacturers in China.

The results show that the learning from customers partially mediates the relationship between indigenous technological capability and product innovation, as well as between interpersonal trust with customers and product innovation. In addition, the influence of indigenous technological capability on learning from customers is weakened under a dynamic environment as well as the influence of learning from customers on product innovation.

This study illustrates the comparative roles of indigenous technological capability and interpersonal trust in learning customer knowledge and promoting innovation. It also enriches the innovation research by understanding the learning roles of indigenous technological capability and interpersonal trust under a dynamic environment.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how institutional elements and market conditions shape and then reshape the development of high‐tech industries in large emerging countries.

This paper develops a new framework to assess the impact of market and institutions on the high‐tech industry evolution in large emerging economies such as China. The qualitative approach based on historical data and interviews are provided to support the framework.

The framework and empirical research suggest that the institution systems and market dynamics will interact and influence the transformation process of industrial structure and the strategic choice of partnership arrangement between the domestic and foreign firms. The complementary assets which are considered as proxy to the resource accessibility in the market are also identified in the framework and it was verified in the case study.

This study has important implications for business strategy in emerging economies. The authors' observations indicate building close ties with domestic firms is an important asset to minimize the liability of foreignness for multinational firms. The paper has alluded to co‐evolutionary dynamics in the development of high‐tech industry in China by linking market initiative with institutional environment.

First, the study contributes to institutional‐based view of business strategy by explaining the choice of strategic partnerships between indigenous and foreign players arising from institutional and market considerations. Second, the study extends our understanding of technological catch up in newly‐industrializing countries by showing the interrelation between market elements and institutional arrangements and the corresponding changes to meet technological development needs.

This paper aims to provide an analytical account of the process by which China has developed its complex and infrastructural information and communication technology (ICT) systems over the last three decades, with the result that today it has become a key player in the global ICT sector. This paper discusses the role of the Chinese government in supporting and coordinating large-scale ICT system deployments and implementation, by-passing dilemmas that have beset more laissez-faire economies.

This paper is based on two case studies in China: public digital switching systems in the 1990s and 3G mobile standards recently. The former is a typical complex system and the latter exemplifies infrastructural technology. From the tradition of science and technology studies, it incorporates historical approach into a socio-technical discourse of the process and examines the operational practices of the Chinese government in different stages.

The paper demonstrates the pivotal role of government in the case of a latecomer country like China in developing and implementing complex and infrastructural ICT systems. While development of such socio-technical systems has presented challenges in many countries, the findings show the transition of socio-technical context in China has provided the best operational platform for the government to perform its roles.

Most research into innovation capabilities focuses on technological matters, while this paper also addresses the social context, institutional mechanisms and roles for coordinating different resources and players involved. In this way, it raises questions for conventional thinking in the West that market systems can perform the best in innovation.

This paper aims to investigate the pattern of technological capability building in the gas turbine industry as a complex product system (CoPS) in an Iranian gas turbine producer named Oil Turbo Compressor Company (OTC) and to recognize multi-level (firm, industry and national) drivers influencing technological catching up in this company.

This paper used a qualitative approach and case study research strategy. A preliminary theoretical framework is proposed based on research background. Also, the data were collected from various sources, including the interview with 11 experts, studying many documents and participating in some relevant meetings and conventions. To analyze the data, the authors relied on their preliminary theoretical framework and applied the chronological sequence analysis technique.

Our findings show that, first, in contrast with mass-produced industries where capability building pattern often leads to product innovation, technological capabilities in OTC have evolved from assembling to manufacturing, upgrading and finally redesigning of existing models of gas turbines. Second, two firm-level (proper technology acquisition strategies and building organizational and managerial capabilities), two industry-level (networking, integration and collaboration among key actors and existence of local market and demand) and two national-level (government’s policies, supports and initiatives and institutional arrangement and political conditions) drivers have played indispensable roles in facilitating and accelerating technological catching up by OTC.

Inevitably, the current research faces a few limitations. For instance, the difficulty of generalization is considered an inherent problem because it is a case study of only one Iranian latecomer company, as well as only one CoPS industry. Regarding implications, the findings suggest that technological catching up in CoPS industries in developing countries is not a simple and autonomous process and is influenced by multi-level factors, including national-, industry- and firm-level drivers.

In terms of theory, this paper tends to investigate and explain the catching-up process in OTC as an Iranian gas turbine producer by applying a multi-level theoretical framework that consists of firm-, industry- and national-level drivers. In terms of practice, this paper aims at investigating drivers affecting the catching-up process in a CoPS industry in a developing country that was faced with vast international sanctions, while many other studies in this area examined cases from developing countries such as Korea and China that had the opportunity of enjoying international collaborations and overseas knowledge flows.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to review the evolution of policies and practices of open innovation (OI) in China under globalization.

This is a review paper. It combines historical archives and case study approaches, covering policies and practices at both the macro‐ and micro‐levels.

It is found that Chinese firms have in practice employed a variety of OI models since the reforms of science and technology systems in the mid‐1980s. Policies introduced by the Chinese Government with respect to inbound and outbound OI, as well as policies encouraging OI networks, have encouraged Chinese firms to adopt various OI modes and practices. Some critical institutional challenges still need urgent attention and effective efforts to reinforce them.

This paper aims to fill the gap in the literature by providing the first systematic review of the evolution of the policies and practices of OI in China, and exploring the implications for latecomer firms in building indigenous innovation capability. As far as the authors are aware, this is one of the first systematic review studies on OI policies and practices with a focus on emerging economies.

While the ICT industry as a whole is undergoing a potentially disruptive phase of development due to the convergence between information and telecom technologies and the rapid diffusion of internet‐related applications. Against this background the purpose of the paper is to analyse recent patterns of internal/indigenous and external diversification of prominent Finnish telecom firms using data on patents and strategic R&D alliances.

The methodology comprises of statistical analyses of patterns of patenting of Finnish telecom firms to capture the internal/indigenous nature of diversification, compared with patterns of external diversification based on a new database of alliances of Finnish firms.

The results indicate that the Finnish telecom industry has diversified its technological base in recent years. The industry appears internally/indigenously weak in internet‐related “new” telecom technologies and related applications. However, telecom firms have also extensively engaged themselves in complementary R&D alliances in these fields.

The paper carries important implications for policymakers and managers alike related to the sustainability of previous success of Finnish telecom. Limitation related to the use of Finnish patent data that might to capture software technologies sufficiently, and does not aim to/cannot capture the diversified technological competencies of Nokia on a global level.

The originality of the paper lies in the combination of patent and R&D alliances data, as well as the development of a concordance table to link technology classes to broader developments in the industry, for a novel and systematic analysis of the responsiveness of the Finnish telecom industry to ICT convergence

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the role of entrepreneurs and the innovation investment propensity of Chinese firms. This study is expected to enhance our understanding about the competence building of top management team for innovative development.

The analytical framework draws upon the recent theoretical progress about innovative firms, cognition and competence building of top managers. A horizontal data comparison and four longitudinal case studies of representative firms in the Chinese power equipment industry are implemented.

The cognitive backgrounds of top managers, which have a significant role in directing strategic resource allocation, are found to be influenced by institutional environments. Because the institutional environments which are under the Chinese transition impact different groups of firms in different ways, the relevant practices of these firms lead to dissimilar competence building of top managers.

This paper establishes a nexus of “institutional influence–cognition–resource allocation”. Such a nexus highlights the role of cognition of top managers in influencing the strategy-making of firms. So it helps in explaining the conditions for competence building in firms.

In this research, we investigate the capability level of technological construction for power plant equipment industries in Iran based on the development of a domestic model. In which we identify the strengths and weaknesses of technological capabilities and work to improve them.

In this research, we investigate the capability level of technological construction for power plant equipment industries in Iran based on the development of a domestic model. In this study, more than 80 industry experts have filled the questionnaire that was designed based on the AHP method to measure the technological level of the industry. The result has shown the overall technology level about 63.26%. Based on this investigation, the technical capability in this industry is in the “C” class. However, the strategic, R&D and innovation capabilities of the industry have ranked the highest in the dimensions of technological capabilities.

Because overall level of technological innovation capabilities in the industry is 63.50%, construction of power plant equipment industries in Iran is among the industries that are on the way to being strategic or class C industries. Industries in class C (strategic class) have proper insight into the way of promoting their technological capabilities. They are highly ability in project implementation and a strategic view of capability-building. Owing to a transparent priority attitude, these industries are able to formulate strategies and increase their internal capabilities in management and technical areas. Although industries in class C are able to react to new environment-orientated technological regulations quickly and effectively, they need a new policy for increasing innovation in leadership sections, and they need better access to capital and service goods. Class C industries take advantage of strategic awareness focused on the latest technologies required for mid and long term, and they need the support of other industries and institutions for development of technology among small- and medium-scale and other less-developed industries. These industries transcend technological boundaries in most areas and are able to turn into class D (innovative and creative) industries gradually. To this end, considering the ranking, strategic and R&D capabilities, as well as learning and innovation capabilities, rank the highest among other aspects of technological innovation capabilities for industries. Thus, the improvement projects of industries should be of a higher priority and implemented quickly.

This article can be used as a model developed for technology-based companies in the field of power plant and energy supply in developing countries.

This paper aims to present the results of a research on technological innovation process with the feature of industries in developing countries including Iran.

Technological innovation characteristics were re‐conceptualised in the context of developing countries and the extent to which a firm's internal factors, its networking and its environmental factors, including national innovation system, can influence its technology innovation behaviour were examined empirically.

The results address several policy implications, which, although Iran‐specific, may nevertheless be transferable to other developing countries.

To some extent fills the current gap in the determinants of technological innovation and the essential factors for successful industrial innovation in developing countries in general and Middle Eastern countries in particular.