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Author(s)
John VerWey
This paper, the second in a two-part series analyzing the Chinese semiconductor industry, attempts to answer two questions: First, why—in spite of 70 years of industrial planning efforts—can’t China make advanced semiconductors on par with the worldwide industry leaders? Second, what are China’s prospects for success with its current semiconductor industrial plans? This paper reviews the development of the semiconductor industries in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea in the context of literature on latecomer strategies and compares their development with China’s efforts. The paper also considers China’s prospects for success. China’s current plans are well defined, with national champions focusing their efforts on targeted subsectors of the industry, but these efforts will not achieve their desired success due to a lack of human capital and intense international competition.
Author(s)
Sharon L.N. Ford
This article explores the development and application of additive manufacturing as well as initiatives in the United States and other countries to advance it. It also examines the technology’s effect on firm and industry production activities, as well as the potential implications for U.S. manufacturing competitiveness focused in three industries. It concludes that the most significant factors affecting the potential of additive manufacturing to contribute to U.S. competitiveness are developing standards, improving the selection and affordability of materials, and increasing the accuracy and reliability of equipment and processes.
Author(s)
Jennifer Baumert Powell
Green building services include construction, architecture, engineering, and related activities aimed at creating sustainable structures using environmentally responsible processes and materials. While the concept of building a structure to complement its surrounding environment is not new, there has been a sharp increase in the demand for green buildings and green retrofits in recent years. This trend can be linked to several factors, including a growing interest in cutting the costs associated with operating a structure, government regulations and incentives, and environmental concerns, among others. Available evidence suggests that U.S. exports and overseas sales of green building services are currently small. However, U.S. firms are internationally competitive, and growth in world markets offers substantial opportunities to green building firms that aim to provide their services abroad. This paper provides an overview of the U.S. and global markets for green building services; discusses factors that affect supply and demand for sustainable structures; examines trade in green building services as a component of overall trade in construction, architectural, and engineering services; and considers the outlook for the green building industry.
Author(s)
Zheng Liang, Lan Xue
The most remarkable economic phenomenon of the past 30 years may be China’s “growth miracle.” According to the World Bank (2003), the average growth rates for Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) during the 1980s and the 1990s were 10.1 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, making China one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The abandonment of centralized planning and the establishment of market institutions, as well as the market opening to foreign investment, have been credited as keys to the success of this growth. However, China’s economic miracle is often attributed to relative abundance of inputs such as labor and natural resources, and not to Chinese innovation. Is this true? What about the innovative performance of China’s domestic enterprises, in comparison with their competitors from abroad? In this paper, the question is explored using Chinese and U.S. patent data to estimate the innovative performance of firms.
Author(s)
Katherine Linton, Mihir Torsekar
This paper compares and contrasts how innovation—the successful introduction of new products, services, or techniques—is occurring in biotechnology seeds in China and India. We begin with an overview of the agricultural challenges faced by China and India and the substantial investments that both countries are making in agricultural research and development (R&D) and biotechnology to address these challenges. We next describe each country’s approach to three factors identified by industry as important to innovation in biotech seeds: market access, intellectual property (IP) protection, and efficient regulatory review processes. We find substantial problems in all three areas including limited market access for foreign firms in China and significant price caps in India; limitations and gaps in IP protection and enforcement; and lengthy delays in regulatory review. We conclude with a case study highlighting how the three factors shaped the introduction and adoption of the first widely commercialized biotech crop in China and India, Bt cotton.
Author(s)
Greg Linden, Jason Dedrick, Kenneth L. Kraemer
Globalization skeptics argue that the benefits of globalization, such as lower consumer prices, are outweighed by job losses, lower earnings for U.S. workers, and a potential loss of technology to foreign rivals. To shed light on the jobs issue, we analyze the iPod, which is manufactured offshore using mostly foreign-made components. In terms of headcount, we estimate that, in 2006, the iPod supported nearly twice as many jobs offshore as in the United States. Yet the total wages paid in the United States amounted to more than twice as much as those paid overseas. Driving this result is the fact that Apple keeps most of its research and development (R&D) and corporate support functions in the United States, providing thousands of high-paid professional and engineering jobs that can be attributed to the success of the iPod. This case provides evidence that innovation by a U.S. company at the head of a global value chain can benefit both the company and U.S. workers.
Author(s)
Elisabeth Nesbitt
The increasing use of industrial biotechnology by the Chinese liquid biofuels and chemical industries is expected to help offset energy security and environmental concerns generated by China’s robust economic growth. The expanding use of bioprocesses to produce products such as fuel ethanol and bioplastics is also likely to contribute to continued innovation, productivity gains, and cost savings. This, combined with strong government promotion of the country’s bio-based economy, coincides with the two industries’ growing global prominence; China is currently the world’s third largest producer of ethanol and second largest producer of chemicals. This growth has encouraged expanded domestic and foreign investment, including in bio-based projects, and generated related gains in exports, particularly in the chemical industry. Market conditions facing many ongoing and prospective ventures, however, are changing as a result of a combination of factors, including the strength of the Chinese currency, new labor regulations, tax changes, and volatile energy prices.
Author(s)
Falan Yinug
This article addresses three questions about the flash memory market. First, will the growth of the flash memory market be a short- or long-term phenomenon? Second, will the growth of the flash memory market prompt changes in firm behavior and industry structure? Third, what are the implications for global semiconductor trade patterns of flash memory market growth? The analysis concludes that flash memory market growth is a long-term phenomenon to which producers have responded in four distinct ways. It also concludes that the rise in flash memory demand has intensified current semiconductor trade patterns but has not shifted them fundamentally.