Mark Greeven

Standards battles in China: opening up the black box of the Chinese government

Research on standards battles primarily focus on battles that occur in developed economies. In this research we focus on standards battles in China. In particular, we analyse two cases in which, in China, two competing domestic standards were developed in response to international standards but where the domestic standards do not get diffused in the international and domestic arena. Although the government plays a significant role in developing Chinas economy, we show that her strong hand does not easily promote a chosen standard into market dominance. By studying these cases of standards battles we open up the black box of the government and identify inconsistencies and competition within the government that lower overall commitment to enforce a strong standardisation policy of the Chinese government.

Remade in China: Foreign Investors and Institutional Change in China

__Abstract__ Book Review of: The Wealth and Poverty of Regions. Why Cities Matter, MARIO POLE` SE, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL (2010), xxvi + 254 pp. US

Towards understanding the business environment for innovation in China: a research note

29.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780226673158.

Does one size fit all? The governance mode and strategic position of cluster innovation platforms

In this paper, we develop a working theory for understanding the effect of the business environment in an emerging economy on innovation. We focus on the private sector in China. We propose that technological – and institutional regimes shape the types of innovative capabilities these firms can develop depending on the available internal resources of the firm. Innovating firms in emerging economies have to deal with two additional challenges for innovation: institutional uncertainty and liability of newness. The former limits the availability and accessibility of external resources, the latter limits the utilisation and transformation of a firm’s internal resources. An understanding of innovative capability in emerging economies like China will further empirical research on innovation and capabilities and the research on sectoral specialisation and technological development.

Book review: Demystifying the Chinese Miracle: The Rise and Future of Relational Capitalism

Despite its significant role, governments encounter a policy dilemma how to intervene in the economy to promote industrial cluster upgrading while not foregoing market driven innovation. This paper focuses on government-supported innovation platforms within industrial clusters. Through a comparative case study in China, we find a general pattern among cluster characteristics, governance mode and strategic position of innovation platforms. The contributions of our paper are: 1) exploring a distinctive pattern of service innovation, ‘innovation through services’; 2) proposing a typology for innovation platforms; 3) enriching the knowledge-based theory of clusters by innovation practices in developing countries. Our results also imply that national and provincial policy for innovation platform should keep flexible because one size does not fit all and must be locally adapted. Finally, the co-evolution of the industrial cluster and innovation platform within the cluster is a promising direction for future research.

Coping with uncertainty: Institutional capability for innovation in China's catching up economy

pursuit of personal ideals. The author has recorded many psychological and spiritual struggles, witnessing change in many, from the quest for a deep understanding of their Christian faith to true practice striving for the betterment of society. Unfortunately, the richness of the personal narratives betrays the volume’s inability to address the larger issues confronting Christianity and civil society in Hong Kong. For example, when did this sense of civil society emerge in Hong Kong, and why? What were the specificities involved in the formation of civil society in Hong Kong, given its long and complicated history in the context of colonialism and nationalism? Is the church considered a part of civil society or the state? The author’s almost interchangeable use of NGOs and civil society has largely overlooked the ideological complexity of the former because of their contesting historical and ideological affiliations with Taiwan, the mainland, leftists, socialists, liberals, pro-status quo adherents or religious bodies. Similar complexities exist among the church denominations, among them the Anglican Church, which had been a part of the colonial structure, and the Catholic Church, which was one of the colonial government’s favoured social agencies. Without considering these complexities, Nedilsky’s central argument about the pivotal role of individualism with regard to the choice of religion and the conversion to NGO activism is not anchored to strong historical and political foundations. The author makes a daring but faulty attempt to equate the free choice of an individual in a religious free market with the free entry of an individual into an NGO in civil society. While Christians are individuals who make a decision to become or stay faithful, and all NGOs are voluntary associations in Hong Kong, the notion of individualism as developed in the West cannot be simply applied here. Rather, one may argue that people joining the church and NGOs in Hong Kong are aspiring towards an alternative form of collective identity in pursuit of the common good. An example is the group of entrepreneurs and modern professionals that, Nedilsky argues, are highly individualistic, constitute the majority in the church and keenly uphold strong familialism and a certain collective Christian identity. The assumption of religion and NGO membership as free commodities ready for picking by an urbanite in the marketplace is an overestimation of the power of individual choice in a city with a long history of mixed cultural inheritance. Accordingly, the author’s presumption that Christianity is pivotal to individualism and individualism pivotal to the development of civil society in Hong Kong is largely misplaced. Despite its shortcomings, Nedilsky’s volume presents a fascinating array of some of the most socially active Christian personalities in Hong Kong during a remarkable period of momentous change.

Book review: Shujie Yao, Zhongwei Han, and Dan Luo, Performance of the Chinese Insurance Industry under Economic Reforms, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, 2010; 199 pp.: 9781847203816, US

The purpose of the paper is to explain how innovating firms mitigate institutional risks in Chinas catching up economy. We propose that firms may develop an institutional capability that offsets the risks of underinvestment in - and inaccessibility of resources in the institutional context for innovation. By combining insights from the resource-based view and institutional theory, we contribute to the institutional approach to innovation by suggesting that firms can take over certain institutional functions. In our empirical qualitative study of entrepreneurial software ventures in Zhejiang, China, we identify three sources of institutional capability: local knowledge sharing, legitimacy creation and strategic flexibility. We suggest that the presence of these sources enhances the potential of a firm to create an institutional capability for innovation.

115 (hbk)

The most impressive aspect of the final section of the volume (with contributions from Sabrina Qiong Yu, Wendy Larson, Katy Gow, Mary Farquhar, and Anthony Fung and Joseph M. Chan) is its focus on the transnationalism of Hero’s production, reception, its global success, and the political economy of the film as it negotiates the tension between a patriotic narrative and global ambitions. In the face of a nation that had lost its blind faith in communism, nationalism was taken up by the Chinese Communist Party as the foundation for mass mobilization and legitimacy. Given the political significance of the theme in the film – both audiences and critics have detected in the film a distinctly nationalistic message that has affirmed the concept of tianxia (meaning ‘all under heaven’, 天下), it is no surprise that tianxia and nationalism are the focus of several chapters in this volume (Yiyan Wang, Gary Rawnsley, Yingjie Guo, Louise Edwards, and Xiaoming Chen and Ming-Yeh Rawnsley). Finally, the Forward by Chris Berry, while bringing out the highlights of the volume to the readers, is extremely insightful in the discussion of Chinese film studies in the context of China studies and film studies. Altogether, this volume, by combining the strengths and expertise from many different backgrounds, provides fascinating insights into recent developments in Chinese society, popular culture, and cultural production and is of great interest to students of film studies and China studies.

An Empirical Study on the Relationship Between Entrepreneur's Social Network and Entrepreneurial Performance: The Case of the Chinese IT Industry

The paper used data from the Chinese IT industry to test the effects of a mediator over the relationship between entrepreneurial social network and entrepreneurial performance. Results showed that entrepreneurs’ social network size was the predictor in entrepreneurial self-efficacy, which in turn, results in better entrepreneurial performance. Results also showed that the relationship between entrepreneurial social network and entrepreneurial self-efficacy was moderated by entrepreneurial stage and experience. Implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners are presented.

The Inside Story of China's High-Tech Industry: Making Silicon Valley in Beijing

Yu Zhou, Rowman & Littlefield, New York, NY (2008). xii+201 pp. US