The Development of Digital Capabilities in China’s Mobile Industry.

Technological capability is a strategic competitive advantage for companies, industries, and even nations (Lal, 1990). For this reason, it has attracted not only scholars but also business and government officials, especially in developing countries (Lal, 1990; Mia, 1995; Kim, 1997). There have been many studies on the development of new technologies and developing countries (e.g., Malaysia and Thailand) (see (2001).
Although this issue is important for business development and national economies, research on this topic in the information and communication sector is still lacking. Some argue that IT development drives IT development in developing countries (e.g., Perez, 1988; Lee and Lim, 2001). As we will see later, this important factor does not seem to fit into Kim’s (1980) model, since ICTs are not simply introduced at a mature stage without changes and adaptations. First, Kim’s model emphasizes discrete levels and linear changes within them.
Can Kim change its e-commerce model to accommodate the rapid growth of e-commerce in developing countries? Given the lack of existing research on this topic and the ambiguity of current findings, we decided to address this research question in more detail in an initial and comprehensive review to gain insight into the research gaps in Kim’s model. The aim of our article is to develop a working model for further research based on the established findings.
Definitions of TC vary conceptually depending on the researcher’s goals. Lal (1990, p. 17) defines technical complexity (TC) as the ability to perform all the technical activities related to the management, organization, and development of new business areas in the short term. Kim (1997, p. 4) argued that technology-based technical cooperation in developing countries can be equivalent to absorptive capacity (Cohen and Leventhal, 1990).
Based on the empirical data, we decided to first establish the hypothesis through a detailed analysis and then through several case studies. This experiment provides tools to critically evaluate Kim’s model and to put forward hypotheses that can be used in further quantitative confirmatory studies. We produce TCs for four Chinese smartphone manufacturers that have their own TC production capabilities.
China’s 1G network operated for a short period of time, from 1990 to 1997. Of the four companies that produced 1G mobile phones, Company A was the only one. In the early 1990s, Company A introduced its first-generation mobile phones to the market, assembling imported components and selling its first-generation devices under a foreign brand name. Work on the first-generation mobile phone system was halted due to reorganization of the organizations involved in the project and the lack of independent developers.