Search results

I attempt to advance the research on globalization and regional development in China through a study of Kunshan City. I investigate the restructuring process, the structure of foreign direct investment, and the nature of global–local networks to understand trajectories and models of regional development in the context of globalization. I highlight the interactions of the Chinese state, transnational corporations (TNCs), and regional assets in shaping the trajectories of regional development. I argue that Kunshan's pathway to globalizing regional development is state centered and heavily dependent on global forces, which has made Kunshan a TNC satellite district and a dual city segmented between TNCs and domestic firms. I also argue that TNCs' local embeddedness has to be positioned in their global and external networks and that the assessment of regional development has to be conditioned upon a region's specific context. The findings suggest that neither new regionalism nor global production network perspectives can fully explain regional development in China with huge domestic markets and large regional disparities. I promote an alternative, middle-ground perspective to regional development to better integrate global forces, state institutions, and local contexts. Such a third approach to regional development has the potential to localize TNCs and to develop indigenous capacities.

AbstractThrough applying exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and confirmatory spatial data analysis (CSDA), this paper examines the space–time dynamics of innovation at the provincial level in China from 2000 to 2011. We first investigate the trend of regional inequality in innovation in China and then use ESDA methods to visualize the space–time relationship between patent applications and innovation determinants. Impacts of innovation determinants on the space–time dynamics of innovation are also examined by analyzing the knowledge production function with the spatial panel Durbin model. Knowledge spillovers from both the R&D and the innovation outcome perspectives are highlighted in CSDA. We have found an increasingly intensified coastal–interior divide with growing spatial clusters and more innovative activities in the coastal region. We have also found a close space–time relationship between innovation and its determinants. Lastly, innovation spillovers cross province boundaries, and knowledge from a province's neighboring provinces has substantial effects on innovation activities of the province. This paper highlights positive knowledge spillover effects between regions, the close relationship between innovation and its determinants, and the importance of spatial externalities in innovation activities.