The Chinese Road To High Technology: A Study Of Telecommunications Switching Technology In The Economic Transition

Y THE CHINESE ROAD TO HIGH TECHNOLOGY Also by Xiaobai Shen CASEBOOK ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN ASIA PACIFIC (co-editor with Dominique Turpin) The Chinese Road to High Technology A Study of Telecommunications Switching Technology in the Economic Transition Xiaobai Shen Foreword by Geoffrey Oldham First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-41068-2 ISBN 978-1-4039-0550-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781403905505 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-22362-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shen, Xiaobai. The Chinese road to high technology : a study of telecommunications switching technology in the economic transition I Xiaobai Shen. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-22362-5 (cloth) 1. Telecommunication--China. 2. Telecommunication--China-Switching systems. I. Title. HE8424.S54 1999 384'.0951--dc21 99-18871 CIP © Xiaobai Shen 1999 Foreword © Geoffrey Oldham 1999 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P OLP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10987654321 08 07 06 OS 04 03 02 01 00 99 To the memory of my father Bai-Yu Shen Contents xi Foreword by Geoffrey Oldham xiii Acknowledgements xv List of Abbreviations PART I INTRODUCTION 1 1 The Scope and Context of the Study 3 1.1 Focus and Scope of the Study Debates underpinning this study The broader relevance of this study The structure and coverage of the book 1.2 Context - China's Transition 1.3 Telecommunications in China 2 Frameworks for Understanding 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Perspectives on Technology from Development Studies The challenge of the newly industrialised countries (NICs) Modernisation, dependency and intermediate technology 2.3 Problems of the Socialist Centrally Planned Economies The central planning system Institutional structure Transition State interventions versus markets 2.4 New Approaches from Technology Studies Technology transfer and indigenous technological capabilities Institutions and incentives for technological development The social shaping of technology in developing countries vii 3 4 8 9 10 14 25 25 25 26 26 33 34 36 36 37 41 41 47 49 viii Contents 2.5 Research Questions and Methodology The main research questions Methodology 54 54 55 PART II THE CASE STUDIES 61 3 System-12: Wholesale Technology Transfer 63 3.1 The Initiation of System-12 Technology Transfer First move - searching, mutual selecting, negotiating Scope of the technology transfer 3.2 Adopting the Foreign Technology Implementation Privileges and troubles 3.3 Assimilation of the Foreign Technolo