Digital Dragon: High-Technology Enterprises in China (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) [Hardcover]

Adam Segal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002 | Series: Cornell Studies in Political Economy

During the economic reforms of the last twenty years, China adopted a wide array of policies designed to raise its technological capability and foster industrial growth. Ideologically, the government would not promote private-ownership firms and instead created a hybrid concept, that of "nongovernmental enterprises" or minying qiye. Adam Segal examines the minying experience, particularly in high technology, in four key regions: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Guangzhou.

Minying enterprises have been neither clear successes nor abject failures, Segal finds. Instead, outcomes varied: though efforts to create a core of innovative high-tech firms succeeded in Beijing, minying enterprises elsewhere have languished. He points to variations in local implementation of government policies on investment, property-rights regulation, and government supervision as a key to the different outcomes. He explains these peculiarities of implementation by putting official decisions within their local contexts. Extending his analysis, he compares the experience of creating technology enterprises in China with those of Korea (the chaebol system) and Taiwan (enterprise groups).

Based on interviews with entrepreneurs and local government officials, as well as numerous published primary sources, Digital Dragon is the first detailed look at a major Chinese institutional experiment and at high-tech endeavors in China. Can China become a true global economic power? The evolution of the high- technologies sector will determine, Segal says, whether China will become a modern economy or simply a large one.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Nongovernmental firms are China's pioneers in high technology. Adam Segal uses hundreds of interviews and documents from four places (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xi'an) to show that local cultures and small firms are more crucial to growth in the information technology industry than are national policies and large firms. Segal shows that his four cities have made startlingly different efforts to jump into the future.'--Lynn White, Princeton University

'Digital Dragon shows how high-tech entrepreneurship has emerged with varying success from the different institutional contexts of four Chinese cities. The findings are surprising and important; who would have guessed that Beijing would be a more successful high-tech innovator than Shanghai? The book sets a new standard for the comparative study of political economy in China.'--Susan Shirk, Professor of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego

'Digital Dragon is an excellent book that makes a strong contribution to research on the Chinese economy. Adam Segal gets to the very heart of the problems that China faces in its quest to become a true global economic power.' ----Doug Guthrie, New York University --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Adam Segal is Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow in China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080143985X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801439858
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Adam Segal is the Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of two books on Asia and technology, and his writing has appeared in publications such as Financial Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, Asian Wall Street Journal, and International Herald Tribune. He has appeared as a commentator on several networks including Bloomberg, CNN, NBC, NPR, and the BBC. He is also a research associate of the National Asia Research Program.

Visit him at his website: www.adamsegal.net