This book examines China’s new development policies, which seek to reposition China from export platform for a diverse array of low-cost consumer goods to technological leader in sectors linked to advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, e-commerce, and new internet-related production networks oriented to China’s large domestic market. Focusing on the post-2010 period, the book shows how China’s central government programs and reforms (“upgrading from above”) are coupled with a wide variety of local government policies, firm strategies, and domestic economy shifts (“upgrading from below”) that link China’s top-down programs into industrial growth on the ground. Placing China’s current development push within a global value chain (GVC) context shows how Chinese development strategies and the global economy remain intertwined. This volume brings together international GVC experts and China-based researchers who have carried out detailed fieldwork and industry specific quantitative analyses of GVCs and development with important implications for policymakers in both developed and developing economies.
Author(s): Gary Gereffi, Penny Bamber, Karina Fernandez-Stark
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 302
City: Singapore
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
China’s Evolving Role in Global Value Chains: Upgrading Strategies in an Era of Disruptions and Resilience
1 Introduction
2 Global Value Chain Perspective
2.1 What Are GVCs?
2.2 GVC Framework and Development Policy
3 China’s Evolving Role in the Global Economy
4 Upgrading from Above and from Below
4.1 Implications of Upgrading from Above and Below for Human Capital Development
5 Contributions of this Volume
5.1 Part I: Digital Technologies and China’s New Development Strategies
5.1.1 Chapter 2: China’s Industrial Internet: Platform-Based Manufacturing and Restructuring of Value Chains (Boy Lüthje)
5.1.2 Chapter 3: Alibaba’s Distribution-Driven Approach Towards the Industrial Internet: A Chinese Approach to Industry 4.0? (Lea Schneidemesser and Florian Butollo)
5.1.3 Chapter 4: Subjective Social Upgrading and Downgrading of Technical Workers in China’s High-Tech Economy: A Company Case Study (Xia Yan)
5.2 Part II: Active Local Governments and Firm Upgrading in China
5.2.1 Chapter 5: Active Local Governments and New Chinese Firms in Emerging Industries in Kunshan and Dongguan (Xun Zhang, Gary Gereffi, and CassandraWang)
5.2.2 Chapter 6: Whither GVCs: The Shifting Role of Taiwanese FDI in Mainland China (Michael Murphree)
5.2.3 Chapter 7: Industrial Upgrading from Below: Can Chinese Local Manufacturing Firms Reconfigure GVCs? (Wei Zhao)
5.2.4 Chapter 8: Upgrading of Chinese Domestic Firms in Advanced Manufacturing: Evidence from Industrial Robots and High-Tech Medical Devices (Jing Zhao and Gary Gereffi)
5.3 Part III: China’s Shifting Role in Regional and Global Value Chains
5.3.1 Chapter 9: China’s Shifting Roles in Asian Electronics Trade Networks: Implications for Regional Value Chains (Joonkoo Lee)
5.3.2 Chapter 10: The Reconfiguration of GVCs in the Digital Economy: Recent Trends and China’s New Agenda (Ying Qiu)
6 Conclusion
References
Digital Technologies and China’s New Development Strategies
China’s Industrial Internet: Platform-Based Manufacturing and Restructuring of Value Chains
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Perspectives: Platform-Based Manufacturing and Value Chains
3 The Political Context: Made in China 2025 and the Industrial Internet
4 Pathways of Transformation: Production- vs. Distribution-Driven
5 Potentials of Recombination
6 Conclusions and Policy Implications
Notes
References
Alibaba’s Distribution-Centered Approach Towards the Industrial Internet: A Chinese Version of Industry 4.0?
1 Introduction
2 The Relevance of Data for Industrial Production and Innovation
2.1 Data-Based Process Optimization
2.2 Data-Based Supply-Chain Management
2.3 Matchmaking Between Market Demand and Production Processes
2.4 Customer-Driven Innovation
3 Production-Centered and Distribution-Centered Industrial Internet Platforms
4 Industrial Internet Platforms as Facilitators of a “Factory Network”—The Case of Alibaba
4.1 Consumer to Business: Celebrities as Drivers of an On-demand Production Model
4.2 Business to Business: Bringing Manufacturers Online
4.3 Consumer to Manufacturer: Data-induced On-demand Production
5 Flexibility and Upgrading in the Networked Factory
6 Conclusion: Varieties of Digitized Manufacturing?
Notes
References
Subjective Social Upgrading and Downgrading of Technical Workers in China’s High-Tech Economy: A Company Case Study
1 Introduction
2 Subjective Social Upgrading: A Bridge for the Integration of GVC Analysis and Labor Process Theory
2.1 Social Upgrading Under the GVC Approach and Labor Process Theory
2.2 Subjective Social Upgrading
2.3 The Measurement of Subjective Social Upgrading
3 Firm Upgrading and Technical Workers’ Objective Social Upgrading
3.1 Telecom’s Upgrading Trajectory
3.2 Technical Workers’ Objective Social Upgrading
4 Technical Workers’ Subjective Social Upgrading and the Changing Social Context
4.1 Subjective Social Upgrading: From Satisfaction to Discontent
4.2 Changing Social Reproduction, Talent Labor Market, and Work Ethics Under China’s Market-Oriented Reform
4.3 Job Security and Livelihood Stability as the Criteria for Subjective Social Upgrading
5 Conclusion
Notes
References
Active Local Governments and Firm Upgrading in China
Active Local Governments and New Chinese Firms in Emerging Industries in Kunshan and Dongguan
1 Introduction
2 Local Governments in China’s Industrial Development
3 How Active Local Governments in Kunshan and Dongguan Shaped Industrial Upgrading
4 Sectoral Diversification and Local Firms in Industrial Upgrading: Comparison of Kunshan and Dongguan
4.1 Pre-2010 Development of the ICT Sector in Kunshan and Dongguan
4.2 Post-2010 ICT Industry Development in Kunshan and Dongguan
5 Conclusion
References
Whither Global Value Chains: The Shifting Role of Taiwanese FDI in Mainland China
1 Introduction
2 Eras of Taiwanese FDI in China
2.1 Birth in the Pearl River Delta (1986–2000)
2.2 Shift to the Yangtze River Delta (2001–2010)
2.2.1 GVC and Strategy Lessons from the Boom Years
2.3 The Retrenchment and Transition Era—2010–2015
2.4 Into the Future—Taiwanese FDI and Global Value Chains in China Since 2015
3 Discussion and Conclusion
References
Industrial Upgrading from Below: Can Chinese Local Manufacturing Firms Reconfigure Global Value Chains?
1 Introduction
2 Reframing Industrial Upgrading in the Chinese Context: Sustaining Versus Configuring Value Chains
3 Industrial Clusters and Firm Positioning in Sectoral Value Chains: The Case of Huizhou City
3.1 The Light Emitting Diode (LED) Sector
3.2 The Mobile Terminal Product Sector
3.3 The Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Sector
4 Upgrading from Below: Diverse Patterns and Paths of Local Manufacturing Firms
4.1 Pattern of Sustaining the Value Chain Through Climbing Technological and Market “Ladders”—Huayang General
4.2 Pattern of Reconfiguring the Value Chain Through Combining Business Models Across Related Sectors—Ledman LED
4.3 Pattern of Configuring New Value Chains Through Technological and Organizational Learning—BYD
5 Conclusion and Implications
References
Upgrading of Chinese Domestic Firms in Advanced Manufacturing: Evidence from Industrial Robots and High-Tech Medical Devices
1 Introduction
2 Literature Review
3 Methodology
4 A GVC Upgrading Analysis of Chinese Domestic Firms in Advanced Manufacturing
4.1 Chinese Domestic Firms in the Industrial Robot GVC
4.1.1 Performance in the Global Market
4.1.2 Performance in the Chinese Domestic Market
4.1.3 Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream Analyses
4.1.4 Firm Case Study: Estun
4.2 Chinese Domestic Firms in the High-Tech Medical Devices GVCs
4.2.1 Performance in the Global Market
4.2.2 Performance in the Chinese Domestic Market
4.2.3 Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream Analyses
4.2.4 Firm Case Study: Neusoft Medical Systems
5 Discussion
5.1 Driving Forces Behind the Upgrading of Chinese Domestic Firms in the Past
5.1.1 Large Domestic Market
5.1.2 National Priority
5.1.3 Local Policy Support
5.1.4 Innovation
5.1.5 External Factors
5.2 Driving Forces that Will Continue Pushing Upgrading in the Future
5.2.1 Large Domestic Market
5.2.2 National Priority
5.2.3 Local Policy Support
5.2.4 Innovation
5.2.5 External Factors
5.3 Comparison of GVC Upgrading in the Two Sectors
6 Conclusion and Policy Implications
Notes
Appendix
References
China’s Shifting Role in Regional and Global Value Chains
China’s Shifting Roles in Asian Electronics Trade Networks: Implications for Regional Value Chains
1 Introduction
2 Global Value Chains and the Changing Nature of International Trade
3 Electronics Production Networks in Asia: Past and Present
4 Data and Methods
5 Inter-regional and Intra-Asian Trade Networks in Electronics
5.1 Inter-regional Trade Networks in Electronics
5.2 Intra-Asian Trade Networks in Electronics
6 Intra-Asian Trade Networks in Semiconductors and Mobile Phones
6.1 Semiconductors
6.2 Mobile Phones
7 Electronics Trade and New Regional Divisions of Labor in Asia
8 Conclusion: Looking Forward
Notes
Appendix Table
References
The Reconfiguration of Global Value Chains in the Digital Economy: Recent Trends and China's New Agenda
1 Introduction
2 Recent Trends in GVC Reconfiguration
2.1 Intensification of Regional Value Chains (RVCs) with the Rise of Nearshore Outsourcing
2.2 Shortening of GVCs and Shrinking of Complex Value Chains in Technology-Intensive Industries
2.3 New Drivers for Global Value Chain Governance Have Emerged, Including On-Demand Supply Chains and Digital Platforms
3 Theoretical Framework of How the Digital Economy Could Drive the Reconfiguration of Global Value Chains
3.1 Factor Endowment
3.2 Input–Output Structure
3.3 Governance and Upgrading in GVCs
3.4 Geographical Distance
3.5 Local Institutions and Trade Policies
4 Growing Chinese Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy
5 China in the Context of Digital GVCs: Potential Pathways to Face the Crises and Opportunities
Notes
References
