The competitiveness of China's Leading Regions: Benchmarking Their Knowledge‐based Economies

Abstract

The Competitiveness of China's Leading Regions: Benchmarking their Knowledge-Based Economies AbstractChina's spectacular economic growth has been spatially uneven, with much development occurring in eastern coastal areas. In particular, three metropolitan 'super-regions' have become China's most competitive knowledge-based economies, consisting of the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Gulf Region. This paper benchmarks the competitiveness of these regions, with a view to exploring which region is best positioned to become the most dominant knowledge-based economy over time. Through the theoretical lens of dynamic comparative advantage, it is shown that each region has hugely increased its competitiveness through improvements in the capacity to absorb and diffuse knowledge. It is further shown that due to multi-dimensional advantages the Yangtze River Delta, incorporating the Shanghai metropolis, is best positioned to become the dominant hub of China's future knowledge economy. It is concluded that China's leading regions will require further economic policy adjustments in order to secure their future competitiveness.

The spatial configuration of innovation networks in China

“…In verifying this argument, some recent empirical studies have clearly shown that firms tend to search for new cooperation actors or establish branches in similarly specialized clusters and/or metropolitan areas so as to obtain more unconscious knowledge spillover (Poon et al 2013;Boschma et al 2014;Gabe and Abel 2016). In addition, due to their importance for the availability of highly qualified labor (Ponds et al 2010;Huggins et al 2014), the presence of academic research institutes and universities is expected to influence the local actors' knowledge base and their innovation potential. Firms located in places with rich resource endowments are more likely to discover and utilize partners on different geographical scales (Wang and Lin 2013;Hewitt-dundas 2013).…”

“…On the one hand, in the context of the more stable Northern culture, it is easier to establish local or provincial linkages through guanxi networks, such as the recommendations by friends and relatives (Liefner and Zeng 2008). On the other hand, the effect of administrative borders and protectionism in Northern parts is much more powerful, therefore firms switch their innovation focus towards co-localized partners to catch R&D support from the government (Huggins et al 2014;Jiang et al 2017).…”

“…In contrast, firms in Shanghai seem to focus more on support from horizontal partners geared towards market demand and applied research. Shanghai has thus developed into a hub for both indigenous and overseas cooperation (Liu and Jiang 2001;Liefner and Zeng 2008;Huggins et al 2014;Jiang et al 2017).…”

“…They hence possess the ownership-specific advantages for obtaining innovation resources and benefit more easily from the construction of multi-scale innovation networks (Liefner and Zeng 2016). Thirdly, China's science and technology system is hierarchically organized (Andersson et al 2014;Huggins et al 2014). Finally, regions differ enormously with respect to culture, for example a flexible Southern Chinese culture versus a stability-oriented Northern Chinese culture, which affects the strengths and functions of ties between firms and their potential cooperation partners (Park and Luo 2001;Liefner and Zeng 2008;Fu et al 2013).…”

Regional Competitiveness Response to Innovation Changes: Issues of Evaluation

“…Regions are the primary spatial units of organization that compete to attract investment; thus, the attention has turned to competitiveness at a more regional level (Huggins et al 2016). Competitiveness is a multidimensional and complex category that characterizes a market economy.…”