The spatial configuration of innovation networks in China

Abstract

China is rising and gradually developing into an innovation-oriented economy. This transition is fueled by public and private investment in education and by increasing inputs into science and technology. Little attention, however, has been paid to the great differences in China-specific context peculiarity. Hence, the paper assesses Chinese innovation networks using a comprehensive analytical model that includes network configuration, regional environment, government interference and firm attributes. The empirical analysis examines China's machinery manufacturing industry to test the determinants of the spatial character of Chinese innovation networks based on questionnaire surveys and illustrative cases. Our study finds that Chinese innovation networks are affected not only by innovation resource endowments and firm attributes, but also by government interference and regional culture. Regarding the influence of regional culture, the typical Northern culture with the importance of guanxi plays an important role in the process of searching for partners and makes the innovation network and interpersonal network interwoven. Firms' ownership and innovation ability are the two essential variables to determine whether any of the regional elements are of significance.

Implications of China's innovation policy shift: Does “indigenous” mean closed?

“…The machinery industry, and particularly the sub-branch of special purpose machinery, provides investment goods to manufacturing firms, for example robots that carry out a particular task within a production line. Innovation in the special purpose machinery industry hence relies on close cooperation with the customer who ordered the particular machine, and on understanding the customer's needs (Lyu & Liefner, 2018;Menn, Sieckmann, Kohl, & Seliger, 2018). Special machinery producers thus typically carry out a large share of the actual innovation (machine design, testing different machine configurations, types of components, ways of arranging and integrating components) in-house.…”

“…In Chinese management research, guanxi is, moreover, key to explaining corporate success (Luo, Huang, & Wang, 2012). Also, innovation scholars argue that guanxi is decisive in forming innovation networks (Lyu & Liefner, 2018). Guanxi-based relationships consequently affect innovation processes and innovation outcomes (Bathelt & Zeng, 2012;Fu, Revilla Diez, & Schiller, 2013).…”

“…Guanxi-based relationships consequently affect innovation processes and innovation outcomes (Bathelt & Zeng, 2012;Fu, Revilla Diez, & Schiller, 2013). Moreover, guanxi is a crucial element in Chinese RIS, as guanxi-based relationships are mainly founded regionally and entail regional R&D collaborations, whereas international and less trusted collaboration partners are often not involved in joint research activities (Asheim & Vang, 2006;Lyu & Liefner, 2018). Additionally, guanxi supports the acquisition of knowledge in Chinese outward FDI (Lin, Wang, & Si, 2018).…”

“…Both variables are theoretically grounded in the literature on a resource-based view of the firm which links a firm's innovative capabilities directly to its internal resources (Barney, 1991). Beyond that, stateowned firms appear to differ from non-state-owned firms in terms of innovation output as well as collaboration behaviour (Boeing, Mueller, & Sandner, 2016;Kroll & Kou, 2019;Lyu & Liefner, 2018). Consequently, we include a control variable STATE that marks state-owned firms.…”

Effects of Network Closure on Cooperative Innovation: Evidence from Dongying’s Petroleum Equipment Industry in China

“…This result shows that the cooperative innovation and industry linkages of Dongying's petroleum equipment enterprises are clearly localized, especially in the case of state-owned enterprises. This phenomenon might be related to the development history, industrial specialization, the particular characteristics of the Chinese economic system, and regional culture (Ma et al, 2014;Lyu and Liefner, 2018).…”