A Study On The Channel Sources Of Technological Innovation In Chinese High Technology Industries

During the past three decades, technological innovation in high technology industries has achieved great progress, owing to the diversity of sources of technological innovation in addition to continuous expansion of R&D investment. While practice flourishes, research lags behind. There are various sources of technological innovation, which is an important feature of technological innovation process. However, little systemic research has focused on the sources of technological innovation. Since 2006, the Chinese government begins to lay stress on the integration of different resources to build the national innovation system. In this context, this thesis systematically studies the sources of technological innovation, and has great academic and practical significance.This paper sheds light on Chinese high technology industries, and explores the effectiveness and productivity of channel sources of technological innovation. First, we propose a research framework of channel sources of technological innovation based on the theory of driver sources of technological innovation and that of functional sources of technological innovation. Second, we compare the channel sources of technological innovation between different industries, and establish the basic principles on the effectiveness and productivity of each source. Third, we combine the research on the determinants of technological innovation and that on the mode of innovation, and analyze the relationship between technological innovation and firm size or ownership type.The contributions of this paper are as follows:â‘ It proposes a research framework of channel sources of technological innovation. In the context of technological innovation in high technology industries, we assume that manufacturers, suppliers and customers coexist as technological innovators in an industry, and build a research framework of channel sources of technological innovation. The framework involves internal R&D, technology transfer, technology spillover and back-propagation of user innovations. Among them, the first three are with technology-push effect, and the last one is with demand-pull effect. Technology transfer includes foreign and domestic technology transfer. Technology spillover exists between firms in different industries, located in different regions, of different sizes or with different ownership types. Back-propagation of user innovations includes back-propagation of foreign and domestic user innovations. This paper sheds light on Chinese high technology industries, and confirms that internal R&D, technology transfer, technology spillover and back-propagation of user innovations are all effective channel sources of technological innovation. It suggests that the framework and its assumption are reasonable.The framework extends the theory of driver sources and functional sources of technological innovation. Technology-push, demand-pull and push-pull are three arguments in the theory of driver sources of technological innovation, and they provide different interpretations on the driver sources of technological innovation. However, they all conclude that technological innovators are manufacturers. The theory of functional sources of technological innovation concludes that technological innovators are different in different industries. In some industries they are manufacturers, and in other industries they are manufacturers or users. Neither of these two theories considers the situation that manufacturers, suppliers and users coexist in an industry. This study makes up these shortcomings.â‘¡It analyzes the differences of channel sources of technological innovation between different industries in the same industrial technological trajectories. This paper applies the framework mentioned above, introduce the stickiness of information about technological innovation, and analyze technological innovators'preference to local information. It compares the channel sources of technological innovation between different industries following the same industrial technological trajectory, provides empirical test, and explains the internal mechanisms that result in the differences between different industries. This research shows that each source of technological innovation creates different productivity in different industries, which may be explained by the following industry characteristics: the dependence on foreign technology, the importance attached to inventive in-house R&D, the level of domestic technology, the relative proportions of foreign and domestic users.This research extends the category proposed by Pavitt. He categorizes industrial technological trajectories into supplier dominated, scale intensive, specialized suppliers and science based industries, and inspires much research in this area. Technology source is an important determinants and measured characteristics. The category proposed by Pavitt describes qualitatively the major sources of technology for each industrial technological trajectory. However, neither the category nor related research resolves such a question: are there any differences in the sources of technology between different industries following the same industrial technological trajectory? Based on the assumption of domestic market, the category and related research emphasize the inter-relationship between domestic industries without considering foreign markets. This study makes up these shortcomings.â‘¢It analyzes the effects of firm size and ownership type on the channel sources of technological innovation. This paper applies the research framework of channel sources of technological innovation, and examines the relationship between technological innovation and firm size or ownership type by comparing the effectiveness and productivity of each source. This study suggests that: each source creates different productivity in firms of different sizes, which may be explained by internal R&D capability, technological innovation preference, technological gap and technology application level; each source creates different productivity in firms with different ownership types, which may be explained by branch plant effect versus parent corporation effect, technological gap and political overtones of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises.With respect to the effects of firm size and ownership type on technological innovation, the existing literature doesn't consider the new perspective of multiple channel sources of technological innovation. The related studies can be divided into two categories. The first category examines the effect of firm size or ownership type on technological innovation input. To some extent, technological innovation and internal R&D are regarded as equivalent to each other. The second category examines the relationship between firm size or ownership type and technological innovation output which are measured by patents or new products. It doesn't consider the nature and characteristics of channel sources of technological innovation. This study makes up these shortcomings.