The Comparative Study On International Competitiveness Of China And Japan

With the development of new technological revolution, the productivity provided by technological innovation and technological progress will increasingly become the key of deciding the competitive position of a country, an industry and a company. Natural resources will no longer be critical to economic development. the main winning advantage of a country, an industry and a company lies in how much knowledge it can get and how many innovations it can achieve. In the real economy, some countries poor in natural resources, such as Japan and South Korea, depend on constant innovation to gain faster economic growth than the countries rich in natural resources. Therefore, in the era of knowledge economy, if countries, rich in traditional natural resources, do not intensify technological innovation comtemporarily, they will be easily under attack.Both China and Japan are the economic powers in East Asian. Considering the complementarity of their development levels, the similarity of their economic interests, the proximity of their geographical location, the similarity of their cultural traditions, there are practical guiding and referring meanings to comparatively study the two countries'economic development, economic policy, economic strategy and so on. A country' pattern of participating in international division and trade, and its choice about foreign trade policy and economic development strategy, are inseparable with such factors and conditions as resource endowment, population structure, economic strength, technological level, etc. Thus, it is essential to study the comparative advantage or competitive advantage of countries, industries and enterprises. There are lots of adomestic and foreign literature about the comparative advantage, competitive advantage and related industries (meso level), but there are few reseach on the advantages of countries (macro level) and enterprises (micro level). This dissertation chooses two great powers of East Asia——China and Japan, comparing horizontally from the three levels of countries, industries, and enterprises, and puts forward the direction for the cultivation of country' knowledge advantage.In the report of China's 17th Party Congress, Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward the emphasis on improving the ability of independent innovation and building innovation-oriented country. This is the core of the national development strategy and the key to enhancing the comprehensive national strength, while the process of practice, learning and knowledge-building is the fundamentals of innovation. Through empirical analysis, this dissertation tries to clarify the causal relationship among a country's knowledge innovation, international competitiveness and foreign economic and trade policy, deepen the theory of comparative advantage, derive knowledge advantage from the comparative advantages and competitive advantages, and provide theoretical basis for our country to develop foreign economic and trade policies in line with their own advantages.The main results of this dissertation are as the following:1. This dissertation first puts in order some theoretical basis such as comparative advantage, its connotation and denotation, competitive advantage, and so on. Then it sums up that, in today'economic globalization, comparative advantage in a sense is represented by knowledge advantage, which is knowledge-centered. In other words, with the world economy transiting from nomadic economy, agricultural economy to industrial economy, information economy and even knowledg economy, the basis of enterprise competitiveness shifts gradually from absolute advantage to comparative advantage, from comparative advantages to competitive advantages, and then from competitive advantage to knowledge advantage.2. This dissertation takes patents as example and carries out empirical analyses of patent applications, patents granted, the import and export volume of foreign trade, as well as the causal relationship among them. Thus it demonstrats that, in the era of knowledge economy, a country's sustained ability of independent innovation is vital to improving its trade competitiveness and even national competitiveness.In addition, through historical data and cross-section data in recent years, this dissertation carries out a comparative analysis of the two countries and the results show that, China's innovation input and output lag far behind that of Japan. In spite of most indicators obviously improving in recent years and the growth rate being in world's front rank, these still do not match the great power status of China.3. This dissertation compares knowledge innovation and the enhancement of international competitiveness in China and Japan from three levels of enterprise (micro), industry (meso), national (macro). The competitiveness of leading and strategic industry determines the country's overall competitiveness, and technical standards decide the competitiveness of enterprises and industries, and independent innovation ability is an important guarantee for technical standards. Therefore, if technical standards are the embodiment of national competitiveness, independent innovation ability is the core of national competitiveness.4. This dissertation points out that, whether implementing the original strategy or choosing new strategies, in order to maintain sustained economic development, we must attach importance to technological progress and innovation. China, bearing unbalanced economic development, provides suitable conditions and soils for a variety of trade theories. Therefore, China suits for diversified trade strategies. The analyses of knowledge advantage strategy of developed countries tell us that, knowledge has become the main impetus of a country's economic growth. The view of this dissertation is that, in addition to absorbing the reasonable elements of predecessors'strategic views, we can redouble our efforts to cultivate the national knowledge advantage from such aspects as intellectual property rights and its protection, knowledge innovation, knowledge cultivation, knowledge transformation and so on.The primary innovations include:1. Previous scholars have carried out extensive research, using patents to analyze innovation activities, from a macro perspective, national or international process of innovation, industrial point of view, the micro-perspective, etc. But, the vast majority of researches are aiming at the developed countries, and very little research on developing countries. For the relationship between patent innovation activities and foreign trade competitiveness, empirical research from the quantitative view is rare in academia. Through Johansen's Co-integration Test, Granger Causality Test and other methods, this dissertation verifies that, a country's inventions can directly promote export trade, and its pulling effect is more visible than the total patents. Tests also manifest that the innovative activities in Japan play a more significant role in enhancing its export than in China. These show that in the era of knowledge economy, a country's sustainable ability of independent innovation is the key to trade and national competitiveness.2. The majority of researches on the international competitiveness in China and Japan by previous scholars are phased analysis and implications for China, aiming at a certain stage, or the competitiveness comparison aiming at a certain area (industry), not yet combining the competitiveness of the three levels throughout the study:countries (macro level), industries (meso level) and enterprises (micro level). This dissertation selects the two East Asian powers, China and Japan, tries to make horizontal comparison from the three levels, explores the interrelationship among the three levels of competitiveness, and provide ideas to foster specific advantages of specific levels at specific stages of economic and trade development.3. Previous scholars mostly make comparative study of comparative advantages and competitive advantage in certain area (industry) in different countries (regions), and then learn from each other. But very few researches are about how to develop, deepen or evolute the theory of comparative advantage on its own. Through empirical analyses, this dissertation tries to deepen the theory of comparative advantage, derive knowledge advantage from the analyses of comparative advantages and competitive advantage, set forth on the relationship among the three advantages, establish the concept of knowledge, emphasize the core position of knowledge competitiveness in the era of knowledge economy, and then put forward policy recommendations on the protection and utiliztion of intellectual property rights in Chinese enterprises.