Technology spillover effects of international outsourcing to outsourcing suppliers: a case study on Ningbo garment cluster in China

Abstract

Outsourcing’s technology spill over effect to local supplier enterprises is an important issue in the research field of China’s involvement in global production network. Focusing on the Ningbo, in Zhejiang province, garment cluster as one of the typical export-oriented garment clusters in China; this paper investigates and analyses the technology spill over effect of outsourcing on local outsourcing suppliers. The research methodology includes factor analysis to evaluate the data collected from field work conducted in 2009, which includes questionnaire surveys on 91 Ningbo garment firms and selected interviews. The paper presents a description of the linkage between export orientation and technology, makes an in-depth analysis on technology spill over effect from the relevant technology linkages, and decomposes the technology spill over effect into four sub-effects, namely demonstration effect, experts’ mobility effect, research and development spill over effect and agglomeration effect.