Sequential Learning in a Chinese Spin-Off: The Case of Lenovo Group Limited

This paper analyzes the learning process and sequential capabilities development in Lenovo, China's most successful PC manufacturer, which originated as a spin-off from a government-supported research institute. The case study reveals this firm's evolutionary, path-dependent and stage-wise progress from initial sales, distribution and service activities to manufacturing, product and process design and, finally developmental R&D. The study shows the interaction among the firm's changing environment, its competitive strategy, and its set of resources and capabilities. The case has implications for research on such organizations, as well as implications for management.

[1]  Edward B. Roberts,et al.  Policies and structures for spinning off new companies from research and development organizations , 1998 .

[2]  Linsu Kim,et al.  Korea's entry into the computer industry and its acquisition of technological capability , 1987 .

[3]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  Enter the Dragon: China's Computer Industry , 2002, Computer.

[4]  Wei Xie,et al.  Differences between learning processes in small tigers and large dragons: Learning processes of two color TV (CTV) firms within China , 2003 .

[5]  Aleyn Smith-Gillespie.  Building China's high-tech telecom equipment industry : a study of strategies in technology acquisition for competitive advantage , 2001 .

[6]  Warren B. Brown,et al.  A multilevel, multiphase framework for viewing technological innovation , 1986 .

[7]  Martin Fransman,et al.  Technological Capability in the Third World , 1984 .

[8]  Sanjaya Lall,et al.  Learning to industrialize: The acquisition of technological capability by India , 1987 .

[9]  Haiyang Li,et al.  The impact of interaction between R&D and marketing on new product performance: an empirical analysis of Chinese high technology firms , 2001, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[10]  Xielin Liu,et al.  Comparing innovation systems: a framework and application to China’s transitional context , 2001 .

[11]  R. Yin.  The Case Study Crisis: Some Answers , 1981 .

[12]  Chang Sup Sung,et al.  Development process of nuclear power industry in a developing country: Korean experience and implications , 1999 .

[13]  Elias G. Carayannis,et al.  High-technology spin-offs from government R&D laboratories and research universities , 1998 .

[14]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  From Nationalism to Pragmatism: IT Policy in China , 1995, Computer.

[15]  W. Gan,et al.  Critical issues facing R&D managers in China , 1998 .

[16]  M. Bell,et al.  Technological Accumulation and Industrial Growth: Contrasts Between Developed and Developing Countries , 1993 .

[17]  Michael Hobday,et al.  Innovation in East Asia: The Challenge to Japan , 1996, The Journal of Asian Studies.

[18]  M. Meyer.  Academic entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial academics? research–based ventures and public support mechanisms , 2003 .

[19]  Linsu Kim,et al.  Technology policy for industrialization: An integrative framework and Korea's experience , 1992 .

[20]  Sally Davenport,et al.  Leveraging Talent: Spin-off Strategy at Industrial Research , 2002 .

[21]  W. Diebold,et al.  Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization , 1990 .

[22]  Jiancheng Guan,et al.  Innovation via new ventures as a conversion strategy for the Chinese defense industry , 1996 .

[23]  Jason L. Dedrick,et al.  Creating a Computer Industry Giant: China's Industrial Policies and Outcomes in the 1990s , 2001 .

[24]  W. Fischer.  The structure and organization of Chinese industrial R&D activities , 1983 .

[25]  Xueli Huang,et al.  Copyright 1999 Blackwell Publishing The Chinese Steel Industry in Transition: Industry Perspective on Innovation Policy , 1999 .

[26]  John A. Mathews,et al.  Tiger Technology: The ‘Real’ East Asian Miracle , 2000 .

[27]  Ming Zeng,et al.  The Infeasibility of Invariant Laws in Management Studies: a Reflective Dialogue in Defense of Case Studies , 1998 .

[28]  Xiaobai Shen.  The Chinese Road to High Technology: Telecommunications Switching Technology in the Economic Transition , 1999 .

[29]  Zong-Tae Bae,et al.  Technology development processes: A model for a developing country with a global perspective , 1988 .

[30]  S. Lall.  Technological capabilities and industrialization , 1992 .

[31]  Stimulating high-tech venture creation , 2003 .

[32]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D , 1989 .

[33]  Everett M. Rogers,et al.  Spin-offs from research centers at a research university☆ , 2000 .

[34]  A. Amsden.  Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization , 1991 .

[35]  John A. Mathews,et al.  Tiger Technology: Contents , 2000 .

[36]  Yizheng Shi,et al.  Chinese Firms and Technology in the Reform Era , 1998 .

[37]  John A. Mathews,et al.  High technology industrialisation in East Asia , 1995 .

[38]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  National Computer Policy and Development in China , 1994 .

[39]  Richard R. Nelson,et al.  Technology, learning, and innovation : experiences of newly industrializing economies , 2000 .

[40]  M. Bell.  ‘Learning’ and the Accumulation of Industrial Technological Capacity in Developing Countries , 1984 .

[41]  Myung-Hwan Rim,et al.  Transition of Latecomer Firms from Technology Users to Technology Generators: Korean Semiconductor Firms , 2000 .

[42]  J. Mathews,et al.  Tiger Technology: The Creation of a Semiconductor Industry in East Asia , 2000 .

[43]  Greg Linden,et al.  Organizational and Industrial Response to Market Liberalization: The Interaction of Pace, Incentive and Capacity to Change , 2002 .

[44]  O. Gassmann,et al.  Organization of industrial R&D on a global scale , 1998 .

[45]  Qiwen Lu,et al.  China's Leap into the Information Age: Innovation and Organization in the Computer Industry , 2000 .

[46]  Linsu Kim,et al.  Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning , 1997 .

[47]  Mingfang Li,et al.  China's Leap into the Information Age: Innovation and Organization in the Computer Industry , 2001 .

[48]  Geng Cui,et al.  Regional market segments of China: opportunities and barriers in a big emerging market , 2000 .

[49]  Åsa Lindholm Dahlstrand,et al.  Growth and inventiveness in technology-based spin-off firms , 1997 .

[50]  Erik Baark.  The Chinese Road to High Technology: A Study of Telecommunications Switching Technology in the Economic Transition (review) , 2001 .

[51]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[52]  Youngbae Kim,et al.  Technological Collaboration in the Korean Electronic Parts Industry: Patterns and Key Success Factors , 2003 .

[53]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[54]  R. Ross,et al.  Enter the Dragon , 1996 .

[55]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .