Going Public and Industrial Upgrading of Traditional Clusters in Developing Countries: Rethinking the Dynamics of the ‘Jinjiang Model’ in China

Huasheng Zhu and Yue Ding
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Huasheng Zhu: The State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yue Ding: Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: Extant literature concerns about industrial upgrading in developing countries, and stresses the importance of joining global production networks (GPN). Taking the perspective of the updating approach of GPN theory, this paper selects the case of China to combine local industrial upgrading with financial activities, and explores how going public triggers industrial upgrading in developing countries. In 2015, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 listed firms and their related partners in Jinjiang, a county-level city in China. The findings indicate that local lead firms in developing countries have been increasingly involved in the global financial market by going public, which in turn provides these countries with opportunities of industrial upgrading. However, it does not necessarily guarantee industrial upgrading. Whether or not going public can bring about industrial upgrading depends mainly on intrafirm coordination, reconfiguration of interfirm relationships, and extrafirm bargaining with local governments. This case study suggests that finance be integrated into GPN theory as some scholars suggest, and the impacts of local lead firms in developing countries on the dynamics or reconfiguration of GPN be taken consideration, especially in some specific sectors.

Keywords: going public; listed firms; industrial clusters; industrial upgrading; global production networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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