IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v36y2015icp378-393.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The innovation process of Huawei and ZTE: Patent data analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Kang, Byeongwoo

Abstract

This study compares the innovation process of Huawei and ZTE in China using their patent data. By using patent statistics and raw data, this study provides more detailed findings than what statistics alone can provide. Huawei and ZTE were selected for this study mainly because they were the only Chinese firms that ranked among the top 100 PCT applicants in 2011. This study investigates the difference in the innovation process in R&D between Huawei and ZTE by analyzing (1) domestic and international patent application patterns, (2) granted patents, (3) co-applicants and inventors, (4) knowledge accumulation inside Huawei and ZTE, and (5) knowledge spillover to domestic and foreign firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Kang, Byeongwoo, 2015. "The innovation process of Huawei and ZTE: Patent data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 378-393.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:36:y:2015:i:c:p:378-393
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X14001692
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2014.12.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Keun & Lim, Chaisung, 2001. "Technological regimes, catching-up and leapfrogging: findings from the Korean industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 459-483, March.
    2. Schmoch, Ulrich & Schnöring, Thomas, 1994. "Technological strategies of telecommunications equipment manufacturers : A patent analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 397-413, July.
    3. David J. Teece, 2003. "Competition, Cooperation, and Innovation Organizational Arrangements for Regimes of Rapid Technological Progress," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Essays In Technology Management And Policy Selected Papers of David J Teece, chapter 16, pages 447-474, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Roberto Fontana & Alessandro Nuvolari & Bart Verspagen, 2009. "Mapping technological trajectories as patent citation networks. An application to data communication standards," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 311-336.
    5. Bart Verspagen, 2007. "Mapping Technological Trajectories As Patent Citation Networks: A Study On The History Of Fuel Cell Research," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(01), pages 93-115.
    6. Guellec, Dominique & Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno v., 2001. "The internationalisation of technology analysed with patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1253-1266, October.
    7. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    8. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ponce, Carlos J., 2011. "Knowledge disclosure as intellectual property rights protection," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 418-434.
    10. Ulrich Schmoch, 1999. "Impact of international patent applications on patent indicators," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 119-131, August.
    11. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Kang, Byeongwoo & Motohashi, Kazuyuki, 2015. "Essential intellectual property rights and inventors’ involvement in standardization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 483-492.
    13. Hu, Albert Guangzhou & Jefferson, Gary H., 2009. "A great wall of patents: What is behind China's recent patent explosion?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 57-68, September.
    14. Hagedoorn, John, 2002. "Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 477-492, May.
    15. John Child & Lu Yuan, 1996. "Institutional Constraints on Economic Reform: The Case of Investment Decisions in China," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 60-77, February.
    16. Li, Xibao, 2012. "Behind the recent surge of Chinese patenting: An institutional view," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 236-249.
    17. Basberg, Bjorn L., 1982. "Technological change in the Norwegian whaling industry : A case-study in the use of patent-statistics as a technology indicator," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 163-171, June.
    18. Nelson, Andrew J., 2009. "Measuring knowledge spillovers: What patents, licenses and publications reveal about innovation diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 994-1005, July.
    19. Gnyawali, Devi R. & Park, Byung-Jin (Robert), 2011. "Co-opetition between giants: Collaboration with competitors for technological innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 650-663, June.
    20. Fung, Michael K. & Chow, William W., 2002. "Measuring the intensity of knowledge flow with patent statistics," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 353-358, February.
    21. Breschi, Stefano & Malerba, Franco & Orsenigo, Luigi, 2000. "Technological Regimes and Schumpeterian Patterns of Innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(463), pages 388-410, April.
    22. Jacques Michel & Bernd Bettels, 2001. "Patent citation analysis.A closer look at the basic input data from patent search reports," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 185-201, April.
    23. Nagaoka, Sadao & Motohashi, Kazuyuki & Goto, Akira, 2010. "Patent Statistics as an Innovation Indicator," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1083-1127, Elsevier.
    24. Byeongwoo Kang & Rudi Bekkers, 2013. "Just-in-time inventions and the development of standards: How firms use opportunistic strategies to obtain standard-essential patents (SEPs)," Working Papers 13-01, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2013.
    25. Martinelli, Arianna, 2012. "An emerging paradigm or just another trajectory? Understanding the nature of technological changes using engineering heuristics in the telecommunications switching industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 414-429.
    26. Pakes, Ariel & Griliches, Zvi, 1980. "Patents and R&D at the firm level: A first report," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 377-381.
    27. Shahid Yusuf & Kaoru Nabeshima & Dwight H. Perkins, 2005. "Under New Ownership : Privatizing China's State-Owned Enterprises," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7399.
    28. Baker, Scott & Mezzetti, Claudio, 2005. "Disclosure as a Strategy in the Patent Race," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(1), pages 173-194, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dang, Jianwei & Kang, Byeongwoo & Ding, Ke, 2019. "International protection of standard essential patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 75-86.
    2. DANG, Jianwei & KANG, Byeongwoo & DING, Ke, 2016. "Landscape of standard essential patents : The case of East Asian countries," IIR Working Paper 16-12, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    3. Liefner, Ingo & Si, Yue-fang & Schäfer, Kerstin, 2019. "A latecomer firm's R&D collaboration with advanced country universities and research institutes: The case of Huawei in Germany," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 86, pages 3-14.
    4. Christian Omobhude & Shih-Hsin Chen, 2019. "The Roles and Measurements of Proximity in Sustained Technology Development: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-30, January.
    5. Godinho, Manuel Mira & Simões, Vítor Corado, 2023. "The Tech Cold War: What can we learn from the most dynamic patent classes?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6).
    6. Song, Haoyang & Hou, Jianhua & Zhang, Yang, 2022. "Catalytic capacity of technological innovation: Multidimensional definition and measurement from the perspective of knowledge spillover," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Wang, Hongxia & Li, Ming & Wang, Zhiru & Deng, Wenyueyang & Zhang, Zenglian, 2024. "Technological innovation strategies of information and communication technology enterprises: A comparative study of China, US, and Europe," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Joo, SH & Oh, C & Lee, Keun, 2016. "Catch-up Strategy of an Emerging Firm in an Emerging Country: Analyzing the Case of Huawei vs. Ericsson with Patent Data," MPRA Paper 109958, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Wipo, 2017. "World Intellectual Property Report 2017 - Intangible Capital in Global Value Chains," WIPO Economics & Statistics Series, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division, number 2017:944, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kang, Byeongwoo, 2014. "The innovation process of a privately-owned enterprise and a state-owned enterprise in China," IDE Discussion Papers 470, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Epicoco, Marianna, 2013. "Knowledge patterns and sources of leadership: Mapping the semiconductor miniaturization trajectory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 180-195.
    3. Kim, Dong-hyu & Lee, Heejin & Kwak, Jooyoung, 2017. "Standards as a driving force that influences emerging technological trajectories in the converging world of the Internet and things: An investigation of the M2M/IoT patent network," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1234-1254.
    4. Zhong, Sheng & Verspagen, Bart, 2016. "The role of technological trajectories in catching-up-based development: An application to energy efficiency technologies," MERIT Working Papers 2016-013, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Adam B. Jaffe & Gaétan de Rassenfosse, 2017. "Patent citation data in social science research: Overview and best practices," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(6), pages 1360-1374, June.
    6. Kang, Byeongwoo & Motohashi, Kazuyuki, 2015. "Essential intellectual property rights and inventors’ involvement in standardization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 483-492.
    7. Malhotra, Abhishek & Zhang, Huiting & Beuse, Martin & Schmidt, Tobias, 2021. "How do new use environments influence a technology's knowledge trajectory? A patent citation network analysis of lithium-ion battery technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    8. Hugo Confraria & Vitor Hugo Ferreira & Manuel Mira Godinho, 2021. "Emerging 21st Century technologies: Is Europe still falling behind?," Working Papers REM 2021/0188, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    9. Triulzi, G., 2014. "Technology life cycle and specialization patterns of latecomer countries: The case of the semiconductor industry," MERIT Working Papers 2014-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Junmo Kim & Juneseuk Shin, 2018. "Mapping extended technological trajectories: integration of main path, derivative paths, and technology junctures," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1439-1459, September.
    11. Anna Laura Baraldi & Claudia Cantabene & Giulio Perani, 2014. "Reverse causality in the R&D-patents relationship: an interpretation of the innovation persistence," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 304-326, April.
    12. Giorgio Prodi & Francesco Nicolli & Federico Frattini, 2020. "Embeddedness and local patterns of innovation: evidence from Chinese prefectural cities," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Keun Lee (ed.), Innovation, Catch-up and Sustainable Development, pages 283-307, Springer.
    13. Grazia Cecere & Sascha Rexhäuser & Patrick Schulte, 2019. "From less promising to green? Technological opportunities and their role in (green) ICT innovation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 45-63, January.
    14. Lin, Jia & Wu, Ho-Mou & Wu, Howei, 2021. "Could government lead the way? Evaluation of China's patent subsidy policy on patent quality," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    15. Holger Graf, 2017. "Regional Innovator Networks - A Review and an Application with R," Jena Economics Research Papers 2017-016, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. YAMASHITA Nobuaki & YAMAUCHI Isamu, 2019. "Effects of Offshore Production and R&D on Domestic Innovation Activities," Discussion papers 19068, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Huenteler, Joern & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Ossenbrink, Jan & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2016. "Technology life-cycles in the energy sector — Technological characteristics and the role of deployment for innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 102-121.
    18. Boeing, Philipp & Mueller, Elisabeth, 2019. "Measuring China's patent quality: Development and validation of ISR indices," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    19. Calvin Weng & Tugrul Daim, 2012. "Structural Differentiation and Its Implications—Core/Periphery Structure of the Technological Network," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(4), pages 327-342, December.
    20. Kuan, Chung-Huei & Chen, Dar-Zen & Huang, Mu-Hsuan, 2020. "The overlooked citations: Investigating the impact of ignoring citations to published patent applications," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Huawei; Patent data; Patent statistics; ZTE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:36:y:2015:i:c:p:378-393. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.