How fast do Chinese firms learn and catch up? Evidence from patent citations

Authors:
Yuandi Wang;Nadine Roijakkers;Wim Vanhaverbeke
Affiliations:
School of Business, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China 610064 and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China 610064;Department of Economics and Business, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium DE-3590;Department of Economics and Business, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium DE-3590 and Esade Business School, Barcelona, Spain 08034
Venue:
Scientometrics
Year:
2014

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Abstract

There is a wealth of research on technological learning in developing countries, but few scholars have clearly addressed the issue of learning time in an empirical way. This paper aims to fill this void by presenting an empirical investigation of the time needed by Chinese firms to learn from the technologies that they have in-licensed. Furthermore, we analyzed in detail the antecedents leading to an acceleration or deceleration of the learning process among Chinese licensees. The results of an event history analysis indicate that recipient firms take on average 5.8 years to learn from their in-licensed technologies. The absorptive capacity and firm age of the licensees, the technology licensing scale, the age of the licensed technology, and the desorptive capability of the licensor firm all play a role in shortening the learning time.