China's Industrial Technology: Market Reform and Organizational Change (Unu Intech Studies in New Technology and Development, 8)

BOOK COVER......Page 1
HALF-TITLE......Page 2
TITLE......Page 5
COPYRIGHT......Page 6
CONTENTS......Page 7
TABLES......Page 11
FIGURES......Page 13
CASE TEXTS......Page 14
ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 16
FOREWORD......Page 17
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE......Page 19
AUTHOR’S PREFACE......Page 20
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 25
Part 1 A REVIEW OF REFORM POLICY FOR THE S&T SYSTEM IN CHINA......Page 27
The need to address reform policy......Page 28
The approach of the study—empirical observation of the historical evolution of reform policy in China......Page 30
Changes in the economic environment since the end of the 1970s......Page 31
Strong orientation to physical products......Page 33
The weakness of enterprises......Page 34
The 1978–1985 National S&T Programme......Page 35
Improvement of R&D institute management......Page 36
Planning for the re-allocation of R&D resources to industrial technology......Page 37
Limitations of the elaborated planning approach......Page 38
3 THE DECISION ON S&T MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REFORM (1985) AND THE CREATION OF A ‘TECHNOLOGICAL MARKET’......Page 39
Diminishing government grants (Decision: sections I and II)......Page 40
Policy for the autonomy of R&D institutes (Decision: section VII)......Page 41
Inefficiency of the technology market......Page 42
Uncertainties of technological innovation......Page 44
The growth of the technology market......Page 45
The justification for merging—a policy response to the inefficiency of the technology market......Page 48
The inability of enterprises......Page 49
The attitude of industrial ministries......Page 50
Transformation after merging into an enterprise—the case of the Automobile Technology Research Institute......Page 51
The rationale for reform policy to support spin-off enterprises......Page 52
Two strands of reform policy......Page 53
Policies for the regulatory and investment institutions......Page 54
The role of New Technology Enterprises......Page 56
General trends of transformations......Page 57
An illustration of transformation into a market-profitable corporation......Page 58
Clarification of alternative restructuring approaches......Page 60
The delegation of autonomy in doing business with foreign companies......Page 61
egime .........Page 62
The principle directions of restructuring, and some factors influencing the restructuring......Page 64
The main purpose of reform policy—to address the lack of institutions......Page 66
APPENDIX: STATISTICAL DATA ON CHINA’S R&D SYSTEM......Page 67
Part 2 SPIN-OFF ENTERPRISES......Page 72
In China......Page 73
Other historical observations......Page 74
China’s S&T system......Page 75
The scope and structure of Part 2......Page 76
Origins of spin-offs......Page 78
The launch of the Torch Programme......Page 79
The development of Zones and NTEs......Page 81
Form 1: Spinning-off an organized part......Page 84
Form 2: Spinning-off individual talent......Page 85
Form 3: Transforming an internal institute department......Page 86
Mixed forms......Page 87
The initiators of NTEs......Page 88
R&D institutions as initiators......Page 89
Individual initiators and foreign initiators......Page 90
 The role of local governments......Page 91
Decentralization and the emergence of NTEs......Page 93
Financing the commercialization of technology in NTEs......Page 94
Property rights and hardened budget constraints......Page 95
A broad picture of technological activities......Page 96
Technological activities in detail: computer and information technology......Page 97
Technological activities in Beijing Zone......Page 98
Wuhan Incubator and Zone......Page 101
Shenyang Zone......Page 102
Characteristics of technological activities and user capability building......Page 104
Small systems development......Page 105
User capability building......Page 107
The learning process......Page 108
Impact of the personal computer revolution......Page 109
12 CONCLUDING REMARKS......Page 110
Part 3 THE MACHINERY TECHNOLOGY R&D INSTITUTES......Page 112
The importance of the transformation of existing industrial technology R&D institutions......Page 113
Why the machinery industry?......Page 114
Scope of the study......Page 115
Introduction......Page 119
Entry and growth, 1950–1970......Page 120
Branch structure......Page 123
Product diversification......Page 125
Productivity......Page 126
Exports and imports......Page 128
Institutions for technological change in the machinery industry......Page 133
Expansion of industrial capacity: the 1960s and 1970s......Page 134
The management of plant design......Page 135
The expansion and reform of plant design institutes......Page 136
Founding: mid-1950s......Page 137
Long-term and annual planning......Page 138
A management procedure for product innovation......Page 139
Centrally affiliated R&D institutes......Page 141
Summary: the A institutes in the sectors of electrical equipment and of machine tools and other tools......Page 150
Locally affiliated R&D institutes......Page 151
Other R&D institutions......Page 152
Planning coordination of complex product development: institutional limitations......Page 154
The development of precision machine tools (1960–1975)......Page 155
The development of power plant equipment (1960–1985)......Page 156
The elaboration of planning practice (the 1980s)......Page 158
Summary: institutional structure and technological learning......Page 159
Income structure: government funds versus market earnings......Page 161
The type of output in which the technological know-how is embodied......Page 164
How complete the delivered output is......Page 166
Composition of market earnings: machinery technology R&D institutes affiliated to the central Ministry......Page 167
nistry .........Page 169
Summary......Page 171
16 THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ‘PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY’ R&D INSTITUTES......Page 172
The transformation of ‘B’ institutes......Page 173
The transformation of an ‘A’ institute in a sector with rapid technological change......Page 178
Direction and characteristics of the transformation in an area with rapid technology change......Page 184
Changes in internal organization......Page 185
The transformation of an ‘A’ institute in a sector with a concentrated enterprise structure......Page 186
Two approaches to transformation for R&D institutes in sectors with a concentrated enterprise structure......Page 192
Direction and characteristics of the market-led transformation......Page 193
The transformation of centrally affiliated institutes in sectors with numerous producers......Page 194
ogy market .........Page 202
Changes in internal organization......Page 203
The transformation of machinery technology R&D institutes affiliated to local governments......Page 204
Direction and characteristics of the transformation of R&D institutes affiliated to local governments......Page 207
Changes in internal organization......Page 208
The technological infrastructure......Page 209
Direction and characteristics of the transformation: a comparative perspective among three groups......Page 210
Factors influencing transformations: the centrally affiliated A institutes......Page 211
Product engineering in a market context......Page 213
The manufacturing technology institutes......Page 215
Contractual technology development......Page 216
The transformation of an institute engaged in conventional manufacturing technology......Page 217
Characteristics of the transformation towards becoming a commercial supplier of manufacturing systems......Page 222
The transformation of an institute engaged in micro-electronics-based automation technology......Page 223
Characteristics of transformation centring on the application engineering of automation systems......Page 229
‘Technology development’ work and the supply of integrated manufacturing systems......Page 230
Manufacturing technology institutes: cutting versus forming......Page 231
Engineering services in a market context: product engineering and manufacturing systems engineering......Page 232
Infant sectors and policy implications......Page 233
Introduction......Page 235
The cumulativeness of technological change......Page 236
The selectiveness of technological change......Page 237
Characteristics of pre-reform technological development......Page 239
Restricted ‘specific’ learning and its institutional basis......Page 243
Path-shifting and the roles of existing R&D institutes during the current reform......Page 244
The manufacturing enterprises (Case Texts 16.1, 16.2, 16.4)......Page 245
The existing R&D institutes......Page 246
The effect of internationally tractable technology......Page 249
Recombination: the innovative approach to path-shifting......Page 250
The need for greater capabilities in the generation and dissemination of engineering knowledge......Page 252
The need to rebuild interactions between academics and industry......Page 253
Summary......Page 254
Basic assumptions of the transaction cost theory......Page 256
Asset specificity and incomplete contracts......Page 257
Uncertainty and the frequency of transactions......Page 258
Transformations of external transaction relationships......Page 259
The transaction governance structure......Page 260
Initial shift in external contractual relations: node A to node B......Page 261
Early adaptive transformations: reducing specificity......Page 262
Group I institutes: further transformations from node B......Page 264
Sustainability of technological specialization......Page 267
Transformations of internal organization......Page 269
Initial shift in internal organization: U-form to H-form......Page 270
M-form internal organization and difficulties in M-form innovation......Page 271
Choices for further internal transformation......Page 272
Concluding remarks: getting the institutions right......Page 275
Asset specificity and transition costs......Page 276
The need for M-form innovation and its special difficulties......Page 277
NOTES......Page 279
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 298
APPENDIX TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 306
INDEX......Page 310