TY - JOUR

T1 - Success factors for upgrading and innovation in the electronics industry

T2 - An analysis of private small and medium-sized enterprises in the Pearl River Delta

AU - Peighambari, Arman

AU - Hennemann, Stefan

AU - Liefner, Ingo

PY - 2014/5/21

Y1 - 2014/5/21

N2 - China's quest for innovation and upgrading has motivated a growing number of analyses of innovation and upgrading processes, their main drivers and typical outcomes in China. Most of these studies are concerned with large foreign-invested and state-owned firms. They have found integration into global production networks (GPN) as well as strong governmental support to be important success factors. In contrast, little has been published about the innovation and upgrading behaviour of private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper addresses the upgrading of private SMEs based on a sample from the electronics industry of the Pearl River Delta (PRD). We find that a number of success factors usually assumed to stimulate upgrading in China have no influence. These include GPN integration, government contacts and other inter-personal linkages. The upgrading of private SMEs can instead be best explained through a focus on the growing domestic market, overcoming typical resource constraints and a reliance on internal capabilities.

AB - China's quest for innovation and upgrading has motivated a growing number of analyses of innovation and upgrading processes, their main drivers and typical outcomes in China. Most of these studies are concerned with large foreign-invested and state-owned firms. They have found integration into global production networks (GPN) as well as strong governmental support to be important success factors. In contrast, little has been published about the innovation and upgrading behaviour of private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper addresses the upgrading of private SMEs based on a sample from the electronics industry of the Pearl River Delta (PRD). We find that a number of success factors usually assumed to stimulate upgrading in China have no influence. These include GPN integration, government contacts and other inter-personal linkages. The upgrading of private SMEs can instead be best explained through a focus on the growing domestic market, overcoming typical resource constraints and a reliance on internal capabilities.

KW - Absorptive capacity

KW - Binary logistic regression model

KW - China

KW - Global production networks

KW - GPN

KW - Innovation

KW - Pearl River Delta

KW - PRD

KW - Resource-based view

KW - Small and medium-sized enterprises

KW - SMEs

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902437058&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1504/IJTM.2014.060950

DO - 10.1504/IJTM.2014.060950

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84902437058

VL - 65

SP - 49

EP - 69

JO - International Journal of Technology Management

JF - International Journal of Technology Management

SN - 0267-5730

IS - 1-4

ER -