Antecedents of catch-up during trajectory shift in the medium-low-technology industry: a longitudinal study of the Chinese textile industry

Our research starts with a practical problem: there is reversed catch-up by developing country firms, and yet few researches directly address it. The windows of opportunity approach (Lee and Malerba, 2017) emphasizes technology discontinuity as an opportunity. We identify two potentials for theoretical expansion in this approach: reversal of catch-up and the threats of trajectory shift. Our research thus addresses two issues in catch-up: How does trajectory shift cause reversal of catch-up; and what are the antecedents to catch-up during trajectory shift for developing country firms? Longitudinal study of the Chinese textile industry supports our propositions that a) in this sector, technology trajectory shifts presented greater threat than opportunity to latecomer firms, and thus cause reversal of catch-up; b) In absence of opportunities during trajectory shift, two other windows need to be present prior to the shift for catch-up success. We consider the implications for future research on catch-up.