Government׳s role in disruptive innovation and industry emergence: The case of the electric bike in China

Disruptive Innovation on Two Wheels: Chinese Urban Transportation and Electrification of the Humble Bike

“…In light of this description, the E-Bike is indeed a DI as it did not continue the technological progress of the trajectory of the bicycle or the motorcycle but redefined what performance is in the two-wheeler transport segment by adding an electric motor, a battery and a controller to a conventional bicycle. For the motorcycle manufacturers, the E-Bike was a low-quality product with meagre profit margin (6%) that was limited to a niche market not worth investing in (Ruan et al, 2014). However, since the early 2000s, the adoption of E-Bikes in China has significantly eroded the market share of motorcycle manufacturers who now face strong competition from wellestablished E-Bike firms that have satiated this new market.…”

“…Biking in China thus, is nothing unfamiliar with most of its cities equipped with well-established bicycle infrastructure (Ruan et al, 2014). With growing population and traffic congestion dominating the political agenda, in 1991, the government named E-Bikes as one of the top 10 priorities and started investing in its R&D. This was further supplemented by the push for increasing energy efficiency in the mid-1990s gaining support from the then Prime Minister, Li Peng who called for the first national forum on E-Bikes to be held in 1996.…”

“…This included a 35% improvement in battery life and capacity, a five-fold increase in the life expectancy of the electric motor with a 30% increase in its efficiency raising the climbing capacity by 3.5 times (Ruan et al, 2014). In addition, manufacturing costs dropped by 21% making the bikes accessible to a wider range of customers.…”

“…As a state regulatory intervention, this law was revised in 2009 to impose more stringent safety measures (GB24155-2009); nevertheless, faced with protests from both manufacturers and consumers, the enactment of the law has been deferred contingent upon further revisions and debates (Ruan et al, 2014). Another unique feature in the trajectory of E-Bike adoption is seen in the role of provincial governments that promoted regional clustering of manufacturers which facilitated exchange of ideas (and technology), accelerated R&D and allowed for rapid commercialization (Dolfsma and Seo, 2013).…”

A review of qualitative case methods trends and themes used in technology transfer research

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