Working Paper Series
No 695:
The Role of Small Firms in China's Technology Development
Nannan Lundin ()
, Fredrik Sjöholm ()
, He Ping and Jinchang Qian
Abstract: Science & Technology (S&T) is high on the Chinese policy
agenda but there are large uncertainties on the actual S&T development. For
instance, previous studies tend to focus only on large and medium-sized
enterprises (LMEs). The situation in Chinese small firms is far less
explored. This paper aims to examine the role of S&T-based small firms.
More precisely, we examine how much S&T that has been accounted for by
small firms and how their S&T intensity differs across industries and
ownership groups. We also analyze how various firm characteristics differ
over size categories and S&T status. This study is based on newly processed
micro level data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics with
information on a large number of S&T indicators for small-, medium-, and
large-sized manufacturing firms in China in 2000 and 2004. Our results
suggest that small firms in Chinese S&T resemble their role in many other
countries. They account for a comparably small share of total S&T and most
small firms are not engaged in any S&T. However, those small firms that do
engage in S&T tend to be more S&T intensive and have a higher output in
terms of patents than larger Chinese S&T firms.
Keywords: Technology; SMEs; China; S&T; R&D; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: O30; O31; O53; (follow links to similar papers)
34 pages, February 6, 2007
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