Upgrading China's Information and Communication Technology Industry: State-Firm Strategic Coordination and the Geography of Technological Innovation

This book effectively challenges the conventional wisdom regarding the cluster-innovation relationship and provides convincing evidence to show that the prevailing theoretical models derived from Anglo–American experiences cannot be uncritically applied to Chinese reality. This book introduces a new theory of state-firm coordination to explain why and how some Chinese ICT firms have turned out to be more innovative than others. Perspectives from the viewpoint of economic geography, institutional economics, political science, and regulation theory have been provided to throw light on the enigma that is China's ICT industry. Empirically, the book provides state-of-the-art findings to clarify the confusion and misunderstanding about the exact nature of the ICT industry in China. This book has essentially set a new baseline and made definitive contribution to knowledge production about China's economic geography. Methodologically, it shows how original, critical, and independent research can be undertaken effectively and innovatively through cross-disciplinary theoretical interaction, deductive reasoning with hypotheses testing, combination of multiple means of data collection; integration of quantitative and qualitative methods; and structured presentation of research findings with extensive tabular, graphic, and cartographic illustrations.