Technological Catch-down to Build Capacity - a Case Study of the Chinese Mobile Phone Industry

Abstract

The paper examined a relative new phnomenon-shanzhai mobile phones in the Chinese telecommunication industry. It has framed the phenomenon into the catch-up theory while admitting the unique characteristics, adopting a "catch-down" perspective lens. It brings up the argument and explore the reasons that innovation does not have to always target at the developed market but can, in some of the cases, at the "bottom of the pyramid", and it is proved successful.