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Book review by William H. A. Johnson. Casson, Mark et al., eds. The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780199288984

The purpose of this paper is to describe, as a case study, the recent developments in high‐speed rail (HSR) technological development and economic and business development in China.

The authors use a descriptive case study design examining the factors behind the importation of foreign HSR technology and its development within the Chinese context. Various secondary sourced data are used to build the case that educational development in transportation technologies and strategic focus at the national level have created the ability to pursue the development and creation of a national strategic competency in HSR technology for the Chinese.

The authors find that a major factor behind HSR development in China appears to be the result of a need for the Chinese Government to build the competencies of strategic technologies at the national level. Given present usage levels of HSR, the internal development of HSR systems is not justified by the economic rationales of cheaper and more efficient transportation for the Chinese. However, the case does point out the importance of technological leapfrogging (or “hopping” over the competition, to use the analogy in the title). It is apparent in the case that Chinese engineering has advanced in such a way that it is not inconceivable that China may lead advanced technological state‐of‐the‐art designs in the near future. This building of national core competencies appears to be related to the increase in world‐class educational efforts. As such, the authors argue that the Chinese efforts in HSR are now described by fact‐based education and derivational innovation practices as illustrated in the staged model of innovation by Johnson and Weiss.

The case study is one of the first published in the academic management literature. It demonstrates the process of development of HSR in China and provides preliminary evidence of the importance of the educational and innovation practices in China on the development of an indigenous technological industry in the country.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on innovation and education towards innovation in China.

The Guest Editors discuss the impetus behind the special issue and describe the papers published in it.

It is evident in the papers presented in this special issue that China is on its way towards becoming world‐class in a number of technological areas.

The paper introduces the special issue on innovation and education towards innovation in China, as well as an agenda for future research in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the two (arguably) most successful innovation‐based Asian economies with Mainland China (later referred to simply as China) in order to examine where China stands in terms of country‐level indicators of proactive innovation.

The paper utilizes a historical case‐based analysis of the education systems of each of the economies of interest to explore the different paths towards higher education for each economy. Data were gathered from existing databases to obtain measures on a number of country‐level indicators of proactive innovation. These indicators measure the innovation, education and economic situations of the three economies.

It was found that the Taiwanese experience towards proactive innovation lies in between China and Japan in terms of progress on the innovation indicators. While the numbers for China's growth in education and areas of science and technology are staggering there is some evidence that the quality of the output needs improvement. Further research on Taiwanese‐based innovation efforts would help in this regard.

Given the push towards indigenous innovation in China today, benchmarking against competitive innovation‐based economies is important. The two economies chosen are not only Asian‐based but also well‐known for high‐quality innovation outcomes. As such, they represent excellent benchmark examples from which China may learn much about developing a proactive national innovation system. China would benefit from using Taiwan as an example of successful innovation at a regional level, given the cultural proximity and trajectory of the innovation‐based indicators.

The equipment manufacturing industry, as a strategic industry of China, is experiencing a transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation. The achievements of independent innovation have not been as good as could have been expected. Based on evolutionary economics, the purpose of this paper is to explore the evolutionary path of the two innovation modes, respectively, and analyze the internal and external factors that hinder the mutation from imitative innovation routine to independent innovation routine. According to the results of the evolutionary game model, several policy suggestions are proposed to promote the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation.

This paper is based on the concepts of evolutionary economics. Routine, mutation, path dependence and selection are included in the analysis of the evolutionary path of the two innovation modes. Especially, the evolutionary game model of innovation modes selection is established to explain how internal and external conditions work in the transition.

The paper explores the evolutionary path of the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation in the equipment manufacturing industry of China, and analyses the obstacles and factors (internal path dependence, and the lack of benefit incentive and external mutation conditions such as fiscal support and intellectual property protection) that hinder the mutation from imitative innovation routine to independent innovation routine. The results of the evolutionary game model show that the pursuit of the benefit (innovation return or the profit), as an internal mutation condition, is the most fundamental motivation for independent innovation, while policy incentives, as the external mutation conditions, have a significant impact on the evolutionary transition. According to the results, several policy suggestions are proposed to promote the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation.

Taking the equipment manufacturing industry as a particular object, this paper tries to explain the evolutionary path and the obstacle factors of the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation from the perspective of evolutionary economics, involving routine, mutation, path dependence, selection, and so on. The evolutionary game model of innovation modes selection is established to investigate the influence of these factors.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual stage model of education and innovation type. The model depicts the influence of education on innovation and the paper aims to discuss the implications of it for the national competitiveness of China.

The paper presents a newly created conceptual stage model of education and innovation supported by observations and a literature review based on past and present innovation efforts in China.

The paper demonstrates the importance of linking creative education with radical innovation that is associated with higher value‐added economic activities. The findings of the empirical studies to date in China suggest that such a change will not be easy. There is a need to increase the propensity towards creative thought processes even if this is considered “undesirable behavior” both in the Chinese classroom and for the Chinese Communist party. Evidence suggests that without such creativity, self‐initiated radical innovation is not possible across a broader spectrum of the educational system, and that break‐through inventions in value‐added technology and design industries will be limited in China.

The model in the paper is designed to stimulate further research, initiate discussion and encourage action on driving creativity in Chinese educational policy and practices. The paper's analysis and findings will be of interest to managers and government policy makers in China that are charged with developing new programs to spur value‐added innovation. Researchers will find the ideas for further empirical research potentially valuable in helping them to design studies surrounding the phenomena of creativity, education and innovation practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate important impediments to knowledge creation within newly‐established foreign invested R&D centers in China and India.

The paper presents a framework based on knowledge creation theory in order to understand the barriers for transfer and the creation of innovation‐related knowledge within newly‐established foreign invested R&D units in China and India. The paper utilizes extensive empirical data collected from a case study in three Scandinavian multinational companies (MNCs).

Examples of innovations in China and India within Scandinavian MNCs are presented. Impediments to these innovations are identified with regard to socialization and knowledge creation. Particular skills of R&D employees in China and India are relevant for process innovations, e.g. competencies in codification of knowledge.

A synthesis of existing knowledge creation theory is applied to compare R&D knowledge creation skills of Chinese, Indian, and Scandinavian engineers, within MNCs. The new framework explains knowledge creation in China and India, and can be used in other foreign invested R&D units in these countries. Implications for managers working with newly established foreign invested R&D units in emerging markets are offered.

The current framework of intellectual capital is examined. It is argued that transformation of human capital into structural capital is counter‐productive for certain types of highly tacit, experiential and intuitive knowledge. In fact, the very process of structuralizing intellectual capital may institutionalize knowledge stocks and create core rigidities or result in the “false recipe” syndrome. An important understanding is that intellectual capital does not have to be explicitly owned by the firm in order to be valuable to it. Attempts to measure all aspects of intellectual capital may be counter‐productive and neglect the actual management of these intellectual capital assets towards a higher real firm valuation. Ultimately, a strategy for determining what knowledge to structuralize and manage as product and what knowledge not to structuralize and manage as process is necessary for a practical and profitable means of developing value in the concept of intellectual capital.

The paper sets out to integrate what is known about the concept of tacit knowledge and proposes a pattern recognition and synthesis (PRS) framework as an explanation of how tacit knowledge is created.

In this conceptual piece it is argued that knowledge is monistic and that the dichotic distinction between tacit and explicit is an artifact of analytic treatment. The PRS framework models the development of personal knowledge via the process of tacit knowing within the individual, who is within an organizational setting.

The PRS model complements extant models of organizational learning by providing possible mechanisms for tacit knowing that have not yet been elucidated. Specifically, as a perception‐based model its main conclusion is that all tacit knowledge must be built up within individuals, which has major implications for the time and energy invested in knowledge creation activities.

Future research can test the propositions given.

The conclusions of the paper suggest that tacit knowledge creation depends on practice by the knower. Ironically, this also suggests a method for how tacit knowledge can be developed even in virtual projects that involve information and communications technologies (ICTs) without face‐to‐face interaction.

The paper argues for a focus in knowledge management on the individual and leads to new insights about how best to manage tacit knowledge creation. Researchers looking at the concept of tacit knowledge and managers who want to understand the limitations and constraints on tacit knowledge development will find the paper's conclusions helpful.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business potential of mobile video services in China via the case study of M‐Vzone.com. It answers two research questions: what are the important factors that affect the adoption of mobile video services for individuals and enterprises? How much the value was added along the mobile video service chain and how were the benefits are realized?

Grounded in traditional technology adoption and information diffusion theories, the paper uses an exploratory research approach, including interviews and further analysis from published sources.

The authors' analysis suggests that three key factors contributed to the success of m‐commerce in the Chinese context: stronger customer relationship management; enhanced video/operation performance; and easier access to resources. From post‐investigation of the results, the authors also found that small‐ to mid‐sized Chinese owners showed a shift from an imitative to an incremental innovative mode of business thinking and practice.

This is the first study that examines mobile video commerce from a business and innovation perspective in China, to the best of the authors' knowledge. The paper investigates opinions from stakeholders directly involved in a mobile video web site and conducts a detailed analysis on the related value chain network. The findings will be of interest to decision makers in the mobile industry, especially those from small‐ to medium‐sized companies searching for an effective way toward service innovation. The paper can serve as a good foundation for future research into mobile service adoption and service innovation topics.