Inter-industry and intra-industry technology spillovers
Technology spillovers can also occur between different industries (inter-industry) and within the same industry. Although many industries have different products, many of the resources used are the same, and how to improve factor productivity can contribute to each industry. In addition, the concept of "technology" here is not limited to specific production methods, but also includes technical knowledge in management and other aspects. Therefore, the technological advantage of one industry may also spill over to other industries, which will increase the productivity of other industries and have an impact on the long-term development of society.
Technology spillover effect
For example, a multinational company invents a new technology, and then the technology is copied or learned by the competing companies, which shows that the competing companies collect the basic knowledge of the multinational company's new technology and combine it with their own research and development into research results similar to those of the multinational company. of the technology, as it is the firm that realizes or generates the benefits that competes with the firm that generates the technology, i.e., the technology generates a spillover effect.
Developing countries spend much less on high-tech research and development, both in relative and absolute terms. Therefore, it is obvious that the technology spillover from developed countries to developing countries has a great impact on the development of developing countries, and this technology spillover is mainly realized through multinational corporations.
The so-called technology spillover refers to the conscious or unconscious transfer or dissemination of technology by advanced technology owners in trade or other economic behaviors, including international technology spillover, domestic technology spillover, inter-industry technology spillover, and intra-industry technology spillover in four forms.
Influencing Factors
Although MNCs have a great role in the technology and economy of the host country, there are many constraints to make the positive effect of technology spillover to promote the economic growth of the host country be given full play.
On the one hand, the implementation of "technology locking" strategy in MNC direct investment. The so-called "technology lock-in" (Technology Lock-in) generally refers to the use of advanced technology multinational companies with its technological monopoly advantage and internalization advantage in the technical design, production processes, packaging and advertising and other key parts of the set some difficult to crack its know-how barriers, so that the host country in the process of local production is difficult to To closely control the proliferation of cutting-edge technologies. This strategy is based on the implementation of the global strategy of multinational companies and the response to the international technology market fierce competition and new initiatives, many multinational companies are using this technology lock to strengthen the host country's technological dependence on him, so as to make huge monopoly interests. In China's automobile, home computer, communication equipment and other industries can find the traces of multinational companies technology locking. For example, in the computer manufacturing industry, although multinational companies continue to narrow the scope of technology lock, but ultimately only lock the chip technology, this lock has always become a hurdle in China's computer industry.
On the other hand, the policy restrictions of the home country government is also an important factor. In this regard, the U.S. technology export restrictions to China is the most obvious. The U.S. government only permits some low-level technology transfers, while it takes a completely blocking attitude toward advanced dual-use technologies that may involve military applications. For example, in the first half of 2001, SMIC, a leading U.S. semiconductor manufacturer, was going to invest $1.5 billion in a chip manufacturing plant in Shanghai, and in order to do so SMIC applied for the transfer of two electronic beam system technologies to China through the U.S. Applied Materials Corporation. However, the Technology Export Review Committee, consisting of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of State and Department of Commerce, strongly opposed and obstructed this normal international technology transfer project by using various verbiage.
The technology spillover of multinational companies is also highly related to the level of technology development and technology absorption capacity of the host country itself. Technology transfer in places with strong technology absorption capacity is in line with the strategic objectives of multinational companies. If the host country's own technology absorption capacity is insufficient, it is not easy to form the backward and forward correlation effect between local enterprises and MNC subsidiaries. The greater the technological gap between host country enterprises and MNCs, the greater the technological level and management level does not reach a certain level, the more difficult it is for the two to form a mutually supporting cooperative relationship. MNCs will not choose local enterprises as their suppliers, but choose to import intermediate products. The strength of the link between multinational corporations and the host economy will directly determine the size of the technology spillover effect. In short, the size of international direct investment technology spillover effect is based on certain technology development in the host country.
In addition, the opportunistic behavior of multinational companies in foreign investment also makes it difficult for host countries to obtain technology with development prospects or have to pay extra costs to obtain advanced technology, which increases the risk of foreign technology utilization by Chinese enterprises and inhibits the technology spillover effect of direct investment.
China's countermeasures
In order to strengthen the technology spillover effect of multinational corporations, China can consider the following countermeasures：
Technology spillover cannot replace China's own research and development and technological innovation. There are two reasons: international technology spillover, especially conscious technology spillover often requires developing countries to have some pay. Developed countries export technology for the purpose of pursuing high profits, and therefore often impose various restrictions on the recipient country, such as: the use of excessive pricing, requiring the technology recipient to improve the technology must be provided free of charge to the transferee, etc.. Over-reliance on technology spillovers will lead to developing countries' economies being too much bound by developed countries; technology spillovers can only keep developing countries in a state of technological lag behind developed countries. For technologies with high commercial value or strategic significance, the spillover is often very small. To narrow the gap with developed countries, China must rely on advanced science and technology, so it is necessary to increase investment in scientific research. At the same time, attention should be paid to the protection of property rights, and the proportion of science and technology into direct productivity should be increased. In the long run, the impact of technology spillover on China should be decreasing. This is because the technology gap between China and developed countries is decreasing; at the same time, China's scientific research and development capabilities are increasing; investment in scientific research has improved greatly.
In order to improve the efficiency of China's utilization of foreign capital and break the technology lock, in addition to the implementation of anti-technology lock and learning investment, we should also enhance the awareness of transnational management, actively "go out", and become a happy place to attract foreign capital, some domestic enterprises in the industry, especially those with strong technical and economic strength, familiar with the market and through the capital market With their own advantages, the listed companies can give full play to the "late-stage advantage" to go abroad and invest in foreign high-tech concentrations to make full use of global resources and achieve complementary advantages, and participate in international competition in the world. Going abroad can not only reduce the technical dependence on multinational companies, more many advantages.
Many countries in the world have established high-tech industry development-oriented industrial parks, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign excellent enterprises and research institutions engaged in cutting-edge technology research and development, which is a major opportunity for multinational research.
As cultures, customs, and consumer tastes vary from country to country, direct investment can maximize market demand and develop scientific and technological products to suit the economies of each country.
Access to advanced technology, seeking shortage of R & D resources technology research and development is an important competitive advantage of multinational companies, and talent is the fundamental competitive advantage. In countries and regions with strong scientific and technological strength and abundant talent resources R&D branch can effectively solve the problem of shortage of scientific and technological talent. It is conducive to give full play to the advantages of the country's high-tech patents and fully realize their value, making knowledge a competitive asset.
University/industry cooperation. Since the growth point of high-tech industry is in universities, it requires a virtuous cycle between universities and society, research and industry, speaking from the general trend from domestic to foreign countries. Universities and laboratories involve industrial partners in the selection and implementation of research, and industry-university alliances allow for effective transfer of economically available knowledge and advanced technical training for the skills needed by industry to achieve knowledge-to-market conversion. 24 March 1998, Shanghai New Huangpu Group Investment.
Fourth, R&D abroad should be conducted with attention to industrial clustering to gain regional innovation advantages. Consciously locate operations in locations that rely on clusters of related companies, which concentrate resources and capabilities, such as specialized suppliers for demanding buyers, senior human resources and well-established support institutions. More importantly, the spillover effect of research and development, human resources, and information from the companies in the cluster will lead to the acquisition of relevant technologies. At the same time, a well-established and concentrated industrial system strengthens the research efforts of related industries and the ability to respond quickly to new technologies. The ease of access to innovation resources such as talent, capital and technology gives enterprises an advantage in innovation.
Fifth, in the context of the rise of international trade protectionism, M&A of local enterprises becomes the best way to quickly enter the local market. Through M&A, advanced foreign technology can be acquired at a lower cost and the time cost of R&D can be shortened. What domestic listed companies lack is often technology and management, while cross-border M&A can acquire valuable core technology and a large number of human resources (including existing production equipment, technicians, skilled workers, intangible assets such as patents and trademarks that are very useful for development and original sales channels) at low cost.
