Global Wireless Communication Sector

Abstract

This chapter will be empirical in nature. It will focus on the global wireless communication sector in order to develop an empirical account that can highlight the emergence of “state-led” alliance capitalism in China. It will focus on China’s global wireless communication sector, specifically the positioning of Chinese domestic firms in global innovation and production networks and the occurrence, nature and number of strategic R&D and ecosystem-building alliances that exist between Chinese and foreign firms in the sector. It will present empirical data relating to the increasing innovative capacity of key Chinese firms operating in the sector and highlight how these firms have managed to become firmly embedded in the contemporary and future global wireless communication sector’s ecosystem through the development of innovative core technologies, the co-shaping of intellectual property standards and a focus on collaborative global innovation network development. Indeed, as this chapter will highlight, the shift from 3G to 4G technologies provides strong empirical evidence that Chinese firms that have adopted a collaborative, innovative-based strategic development policy, which views innovation as a global network approach rather than a techno-nationalistic one, are becoming network leaders with increasing intellectual property portfolios and global market share in the sector.