Technological catch-up and windows of opportunity in the Chinese mobile phone market.

Abstract

The mobile phone is considered one of the fastest growing technology of our times and the mobile industry has scaled dramatically over the last decades. Traditionally, technological knowledge, know-how and market leadership have always been in the hands of few firms coming from developed countries. During the last years, the industry is living a phase of deep transformations: the introduction of the smartphone has opened a window of opportunity that permitted the rise of many Chinese mobile phone vendors, that are successfully catching-up with the incumbent leaders in China. Through a sectoral system of innovation analysis of the Chinese mobile phone market, the aim of this work is to identify what are the drivers, the window of opportunities and the catch-up pattern followed by these firms that are leading them to fill the technological and market gap and position themselves at the top of market share in China.