Innovation and Upgrading pathways in the Chinese smartphone production GVC

  • David Wernick
  • Jiong How Lua

Abstract

This paper attends to the recent upgrading developments demonstrated by Chinese smartphone firms. Adopting a comparative approach of tearing down retail-accessible smartphones to their components, this paper traces the upgrading activities across global value chains (GVCs) that Chinese firms partake in during the production process. Upgrading is thus discovered to be diverse and complicated rather than a linear process, carrying significant implications for the production networks and supply chains in Chinese smartphone firms.
Published
2020-10-13
Section
Articles