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Is R&D Upgrading China from Imitation to Innovation? An Institutional Analysis of Absorptive Capacity

Journal Transition Studies Review

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Field Value
 
Title Is R&D Upgrading China from Imitation to Innovation? An Institutional Analysis of Absorptive Capacity
 
Creator Zhao, Wei
 
Subject
R&D investment - China - absorptive capacity - innovation - institution
030 - 031 - 034
 
Description With its massive investment in R&D, China is generally believed to be getting outfrom the stage of little in-house R&D, building up more R&D capability quickly, andwill gradually become powerful in its own in-house R&D so as to remain globallycompetitive with its own technology. This paper evaluates China’s innovation capabilityat the firm level, with consideration of the overall situation of R&D activities carriedout by firms in China. It is true that many Chinese local firms have jumped from theOEM stage to ODM stage, and many private and State-owned firms begin to haveheavy R&D investment as well. But these product design and R&D activities seemto stagnate at a halfway level. Also some high-end R&D efforts seem to be shrinking.Though most Chinese firms, through a long period of process of technological learningand capability accumulation, finally begin to invest in R&D and carry out relevantprojects, the quality of R&D activities is not so well achieved. The low quality ofR&D investment of Chinese firms is due to the absence of absorptive capacity, i.e.,the high quality external linkages established around Chinese firms, which in turnimpedes the efficiency and effectiveness of in-house R&D projects. Such an absenceof absorptive capacity or efficient innovation linkages has its institutional reason inthe Chinese context. Chinese policy makers shall deepen their perspective on theso-called national innovation system, discover and tackle the real linkage problemswhich are depressing China’s innovation capacity right now.
 
Publisher Journal Transition Studies Review
 
Contributor
 
Date 2015-12-23
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Peer-reviewed Article
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://transitionacademiapress.org/jtsr/article/view/83
10.14665/1614-4007-22-2-006
 
Source Journal Transition Studies Review; Vol 22, No 2 (2015); 79-108
1614-4015
1614-4007
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://transitionacademiapress.org/jtsr/article/view/83/61
 
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