Technological Catching up and Multinational Growth: Indian and Chinese Carmakers Compared

Abstract:

This presentation analyses Chinese and Indian carmakers, comparing their trajectories of technological catching up, innovation processes and multinational growth.

In China, a geographically fragmented domestic market contrasts with a concentrated oligopoly in India. International joint ventures played a crucial role in both countries, as an instrument for acquiring and assimilating new technology, but in different stages and in different policy contexts. Traditional joint ventures based on an exchange of mature technology for access to new and growing markets are evolving in both countries towards different forms of governance.

This presentation shows how history, policies and institutions shaped patterns and trajectories in this industry. It focuses on the key relation between processes of creative assimilation of technology, innovation processes, and early multination growth by Indian and Chinese carmakers