Ownership and visibility: a pattern of industrial technology catching-up in transition economies

Abstract

We present a pattern of industrial technology catching-up in transition economies from perspective of ownership. The pattern indicates, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Private-Owned Enterprises (POEs) play different roles in catching-up process. Specifically, SOEs play a more active role in importing foreign technology and innovation activities, while POEs are inclined to come to the fore in assimilation activities. We also point out that knowledge transfer between SOEs and POEs is key to catching-up. We contribute to extant literature by questioning previous work assuming that industrial technology catching-up players are homogeneous, thus increasing our understanding of unique catching-up path in transition economies.