Innovation studies have long been confined to the theoretical system established by the scholars of developed countries in the West. It is difficult to use these studies to understand the real nature and law of technological innovation in developing countries. This book, in an innovative manner, studies the theoretical system of secondary innovation, and reveals the evolution law and dynamic innovation mode of the activities carried out by technologically backward countries. It does so by laying an important foundation for the development of management science theory on the basis of the standpoint and characteristics of developing countries.

This book provides a novel theoretical framework to explain the real source of competitive advantage of Chinese manufacturing. More importantly, such a framework can be generalized to analyze the potential of catch-up for large emerging economies in the globalization era. The book also provides insights for policy makers to rethink their design of policies.The rise of Made-in-China products has been widely attributed to low labour cost advantage and imitation advantage. However, as these two advantages are nearly innate to all late-developing countries, they cannot be regarded as the key factors that drive the rapid growth of China's manufacturing industry, or China's economy, over the past few decades. In this book, the author proposed a theory — 'the catch-up ladders theory', to explain the rise of China's manufacturing industry. The manufacturing advancement of any country is in essence a process of catching-up in both market and technology, during which enterprises will form a ladder-like holistic structure due to their differences in capabilities, technology and market positioning. In light of this, the continuity of the catch-up ladder will greatly determine the catch-up efficiency of an industry and even a country at large. Such a perspective is more applicable to large emerging economies, especially those with over one hundred million population and thus huge potential domestic market demand.

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the transformative trajectory undertaken by Chinese domestic enterprises, with a particular focus on Geely Automobile. Comprising five chapters and totaling 13 sections, the study delves into Geely's remarkable progression from a state of catch-up to surpassing established competitors. The initial chapter chronicles Geely's entry into the automotive industry amidst resource and technological scarcity, shedding light on the strategies employed to achieve breakthroughs during the nascent stages. The subsequent section elucidates Geely's transition from a late entrant to a prominent player in the global automotive market, facilitated by innovative practices across organizational, technological, talent-driven, quality-oriented, and cultural dimensions. The third chapter examines Geely's successful foray into globalization, offering a comprehensive analysis of its non-linear growth trajectory, overseas mergers and acquisitions, and strategic expansion efforts. The fourth part explores Geely's approach to embracing uncertainty and navigating cyclical challenges in the automotive industry, seeking determinative opportunities for future growth. Finally, the concluding chapter draws insights from Geely's non-linear growth and advances the "C theory," an enriched local innovation management framework grounded in China's unique developmental context.

China's extraordinary economic development is explained in large part by the way it innovates. Contrary to widely held views, China's innovation machine is not created and controlled by an all-powerful government. Instead, it is a complex, interdependent system composed of various elements, involving bottom-up innovation driven by innovators and entrepreneurs and highly pragmatic and adaptive top-down policy. Using case studies of leading firms and industries, along with statistics and policy analysis, this book argues that China's innovation machine is similar to a natural ecosystem. Innovations in technology, organization, and business models resemble genetic mutations which are initially random, self-serving, and isolated, but the best fitting are selected by the market and their impacts are amplified by the innovation machine. This machine draws on China's multitude manufacturers, supply chains, innovation clusters, and digitally literate population, connected through super-sized digital platforms. China's innovation suffers from a lack of basic research and reliance upon certain critical technologies from overseas, yet its scale (size) and scope (diversity) possess attributes that make it self-correcting and stronger in the face of challenges. China's innovation machine is most effective in a policy environment where the market prevails; policy intervention plays a significant role when market mechanisms are premature or fail. The future success of China's innovation will depend on continuing policy pragmatism, mass innovation, and entrepreneurship, and the development of the 'new infrastructures'.

This book explains how Chinese firms are increasingly developing innovative capabilities and engaging in globalization. It focuses on knowledge-intensive and innovative entrepreneurial firms and multinationals, which already are – or are striving to become – world-leaders in their technologies and markets, and which do so by their use of advanced knowledge for innovation as well as their ability to act globally. The book advances related debates in entrepreneurship, innovation management, economic geography and international business.

Essays in the book focus on the Korean model of industrialization and internal internationalization, organizational capabilities and management roles, and disadvantages inherent in the model. The subjects covered include corporate catch-up strategies, foreign investment, and future possibilities.

This book focuses on the competitive situation and policy outlook of China’s provincial economy in the 13th five-year period. It begins with a general evaluation report on the country’s provincial comprehensive Economic Competitiveness, followed by analyses at the international, national and regional levels, industrial and enterprise levels. On the basis of domestic and international research findings, it further enriches our understanding of provincial competitiveness, analyzes the domestic and international situation, explores new changes, new norms, new situations and new challenges concerning China’s provincial economy in the past few years, reveals the characteristics and relative differences of different types, defines their internal competitive strengths and weaknesses, and provides valuable theoretical content to guide decision-making.