Measuring the knowledge-based economy of China in terms of synergy among technological, organizational, and geographic attributes of firms

Abstract

Using the possible synergy among geographic, size, and technological distributions of firms in the Orbis database, we find the greatest reduction of uncertainty at the level of the 31 provinces of China, and an additional 18.0 % at the national level. Some of the coastal provinces stand out as expected, but the metropolitan areas of Beijing and Shanghai are (with Tianjin and Chongqing) most pronounced at the next-lower administrative level of (339) prefectures, since these four “municipalities” are administratively defined at both levels. Focusing on high- and medium-tech manufacturing, a shift toward Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin (near Beijing) is indicated, but the synergy is on average not enhanced. High- and medium-tech manufacturing is less embedded in China than in Western Europe. Knowledge-intensive services “uncouple” the knowledge base from the regional economies mostly in Chongqing and Beijing. Unfortunately, the Orbis data is incomplete since it was collected for commercial and not for administrative or governmental purposes. However, we provide a methodology that can be used by others who may have access to higher-quality statistical data for the measurement.