In this article we analyze the case of TD-SCDMA system standardization in China. Specifically, we focus on the leading role that government-controlled enterprises (GCEs) played in the standardization, and how the Chinese government supported GCEs. The case study findings advance current knowledge on how governments support standardization efforts in a catching-up context. We found that, under strong government support and with GCEs’ leadership, a latecomer country such as China, with certain technological capabilities and in economic, social, and institutional contexts that favor indigenous innovation, can pursue path-breaking innovation with complex technological systems. Governments should engage in various tactics to support GCEs that lead the standardization process. Most importantly, governments should intervene in scoping decisions on technological systems and research and development forces in the standard development stage, and offer moral suasion in the standard diffusion stage. We provide practical implications for governments that support GCEs in technology catching-up.

This study constructed an input–output and environmental indicator combination framework to evaluate the efficiency of energy infrastructure investment. Furthermore, the study used a three-stage DEA model to evaluate the efficiency of energy infrastructure investment projects in Jiangsu Province. Subsequently, the study constructed a system of indicators to measure regional economic development and assigns weights to them using the entropy value method, to obtain a comprehensive regional economic development score. Finally, this study analyzed the impact of energy investment efficiency on regional economic growth, economic stability, and industrial structure optimization. The study results show that the efficiency of energy infrastructure investment varies widely across Jiangsu and is highly correlated with the regional economic development model, the level of economic development, and the importance of the industry. The study also reveals that the improvement of energy infrastructure investment efficiency in Jiangsu fails to reflect the level of regional economic development; however, it has a crucial role in increasing social wealth and transforming the regional industrial structure and economy. Based on these results, this study further proposes countermeasures, such as planning a reasonable scale of investment, implementing differentiated regional investment, and upgrading management and technology.

The inquiry into whether the current surge in digital technology constitutes another emerging technological bubble holds important significance for both the progression of digital technology and the soundness of the financial sector. This study uses Chinese listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets as samples to investigate the effect of digital transformation on the corporate financialization of entity enterprises and to explore its impact mechanism to elucidate whether ongoing digital technology advancement may be indicative of a potential technology bubble. The study revealed that digital transformation has a negative effect on corporate financialization. Specifically, digital transformation restricts corporate financialization by enhancing primary business operations, improving corporate R&D, and reducing corporate agency costs. Moreover, the study identifies property rights heterogeneity, policy support heterogeneity, regional heterogeneity and period heterogeneity in the impact of digital transformation on corporate financialization. The findings demonstrate that the current surge in digital technology significantly facilitates enterprise development, which is not a technology bubble.

China is witnessed to catch up in the field of information technology (IT) through years of technology innovation. Scholars have indicated the significance of the government promotion and efficient technology innovation systems (TIS). Innovation literature about how TIS can be functioned and efficient with government intervention is still insufficient, especially that in catching-up context. This work aims to understand mechanism of government intervention in TIS for achieving technology innovation. Combining TIS frame with institutional perspective, a framework is developed. Underlying with the framework, case of TD-LTE innovation in China is examined based on extensive documentary research and semi-structured interviews. Within catching-up context, this paper argues that government is required to exert institutional forces on key components of TIS in different stages to achieve different tasks, both influential and regulative, for innovation purpose. These institutional measures work with a time sequence and the environment of technology innovation is also significant.