Firm ownership, industrial structure, and regional innovation performance in China's provinces

Abstract

Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. provinces. Specifically, we explore how the extent of specialization and diversification in regional industrial structures at the province level foster both MAR and Jacobs spillovers, as well as how foreign and state ownership influence regional innovation. We find: (i) China's regional innovation systems benefit from Jacobs but not MAR externalities, with the former spurring higher quality innovation in the form of increased invention patenting; (ii) state owned enterprises and foreign invested enterprises advance local innovation, with the latter again fostering higher quality innovation; (iii) a convergence towards the combination of low specialization and high diversity in provincial industry is taking place between China's more developed inland coastal provinces and less developed inland provinces. Implications and suggestions for policy-making and future research are discussed.

Culture and regional innovation performance: an exploration in China

“…With more than half a century of development, the theory of innovation has developed into sophisticated, fragmented, and complex constructs (Tzeng, 2009; Li, 2009; Li et al , 2014). Among others, regional innovation system gains scholars’ special attention due to the relevance of the regional level (Cooke and Schienstock, 2000; Lau and Lo, 2015; Krugman, 1991) in the differences of their innovation activities and boundedness of knowledge flows among regions (Asheim and Gertler, 2006; Fritsch and Graf, 2011).…”

Technological Innovation Research in China and India: A Bibliometric Analysis for the Period 1991–2015

“…In particular, the role of state-owned enterprises on innovation performance, although examined in two studies in our sample (Choi et al, 2011; Pyke et al, 2002), point to the need for more studies. Also, the presence of large state owned enterprises in China and India, and large family business groups in India (Li, Sutherland, Ning, & Wang, 2014; Nair et al, 2015; Singh & Gaur, 2013) are likely to confound the effects of firm size, scope, governance and upper echelons on innovation and are directions for future research. Large state owned enterprises operate in different conditions (such as monopolies or state protection) that are often not strongly linked to market forces (Wang, Wong, & Xia, 2008), a key assumption in Schumpeter's (1942) work.…”

Chinese innovation-driving factors: regional structure, innovation effect, and economic development—empirical research based on panel data

“…Second, this paper studies innovation activities from the perspective of regional disparity. According to the work of Li et al (2014), the industrial structure is also an important factor affecting innovation performance. There is regional and industrial diversity within a nation, especially in transitional economies, so it is better to take the industrial structure into consideration and thus to provide a comprehensive picture or story of innovation performance in China.…”