• Journal of East Asia Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.43-64
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• 2022

Exploring innovations for latecomers to catch up has been a popular concern in industry and academia. Over the last decade, more and more East Asian latecomer firms have moved beyond imitation and are delivering innovative products and services to the market. However, the semiconductor latecomers from China have limited success in catching up with more mature semiconductor firms. Our study examines how semiconductor latecomers to break through the latecomer's dilemma by innovation and achieve catch-up. We use a single-case approach for the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) vertical development process to analysis its innovation path of catching up. The study's results showed that SMIC relied on the government's policy and funding support, and based on the strategic endurance of entrepreneurs, it persisted in technology R&D investment and independent innovation for 20 years. SMIC finally smashed the dilemma of latecomers and successfully achieved catch-up. With these findings, we believe that the path of catching up innovation for semiconductor latecomers should be equipped with independent innovation of technology, strategic leadership of entrepreneurs and support of government policies. As these factors are combined, latecomer firms' position is expected to rise and catch-up will become visible. Our study contributes to some enlightenment on the innovation path for latecomers in China and global semiconductors to achieve their catch-up.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.109-139
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• 2013

The objective of this study attempt to examine the prospect whether conventional catch-up theory is also applicable to knowledge intensive industry like Open Source Software(OSS), and the implication from this study can be working as a stepping stone for followers. To do this, we conducted Korean SW firm's interview, and examined U.S. firm's archivings and second source of informations by means of empirical study. We use the inflection point of paradigm shift and difference of technology regime as a framework for empirical study of catch-up process between U.S. and Korean OSS firms. We find that conventional catch-up theory is no more applicable to explain OSS firm's catch-up processes. We also identified the elements that will accelerate the catch-up processes more effectively from the comparison of technology regime between U.S. and Korean OSS firms. As a result, we diagnose the limitation of conventional catch-up theory and discuss the new technology regime which will, ironically, promote the catch-up processes from the condition of low appropriation.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.63-89
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• 2016

The purpose of this article is to re-interpretate 'Post Catch-up Studies' on the Korean innovation system with the framework of 'Transition Studies'. The viewpoints of the vision, research area and system innovation process of Post Catch-up studies are reviewed and reconfigurated. The Transition Studies concepts of Sustainability, Coevolution of industry and society, and transition management are introduced into the Post-catch up Studies and discussed. It is suggested that Post catch-up studies should support sustainability system transition and make use of transition management tools for the sustainable post catch-up innovation and policy.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.27-50
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• 2016

Korean manufacturing industry have recently faced the catch-up of China in the mass commodity product, such as automotive, display, and smart phone in terms of market as well as technology. Accordingly, discussion on the importance of achieving catch-up in complex product systems (CoPS) has been increasing as a new innovation engine for the industry. In order to achieve successful catch-up of CoPS, we explored emerging technologies of CoPS, which are featured by the characteristics of radical novelty, relatively fast growth and self-sustaining, through the study of emerging technologies of gas turbine for power generation. We found that emerging technologies of the gas turbine are technologies for combustion nozzle and composition of electrical machine for increasing power efficiency, washing technology for particulate matter, cast and material processing technology for enhancing durability from fatigue, cooling technologies from extremely high temperature, interconnection operation technology between renewable energy and the gas turbine for flexibility in power generation, and big data technology for remote monitoring and diagnosis of the gas turbine. We also found that those emerging technologies resulted in technological progress of the gas turbine by converging with other conventional technologies in the gas turbine. It indicates that emerging technologies in CoPS can be appeared on various technological knowledge fields and have complementary relationship with conventional technologies for technology progress of CoPS. It also implies that latecomers need to pursue integrated learning that includes emerging technologies as well as conventional technologies rather than independent learning related to emerging technologies for successful catch-up of CoPS. Our findings provide an important initial theoretical ground for investigating the emerging technologies and their characteristics in CoPS as well as recognizing knowledge management strategy for successful catch-up of latecomers. Our findings also contribute to the policy development of the CoPS from the perspective of innovation strategy and knowledge management.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.6 no.2 s.12
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• pp.1-44
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• 2006

This paper aims to analyse post catch-up innovation activities of Korean firms. Traditional approach focused on incremental innovation through fast catch-up process. Recently, Korean firms present new patterns of innovation activities. It includes the development of state-of-the-art frontier products in capital intensive manufacturing sector, the achievement of architectural innovation through adopting newly developed components and the creation of new market based on the basic technological capabilities. This paper attempts to formulate conceptual framework for analysing post catch-up innovation activities and to analyse stylized facts of post catch-up activities based on the case studies on technology based small and medium Korean firms.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2016

Catch-up is a well-known and familiar terminology for innovation scholars in developing countries such as Taiwan, Korea and China. The strategy, however, is too difficult to perform in each industry. This study looks into a catch-up strategy that Apple and Xiaomi used and examines the results on the creative imitation of business model in the smartphone industry. It is quite surprising that even Apple is based on catch-up strategy. They wanted to catch-up Nokia. Our case study shows that these two companies quickly caught up with the leaders, and the common feature of their strategy is characterized as creative imitation of business model. Creative imitation of business model is different from creative imitation of innovation. Furthermore, this research confirms that the creative imitation of business model leads to aggressive creative innovation.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.239-259
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• 2008

Korea is in the middle of a transition from the catch-up stage to the post catch-up stage. This requires a new approach, a new perspective, and a new strategy to survive in the new environment. This research investigates the post catch-up research activities in the public sector, including universities and national research institutes. In this case study, the experts and research teams at the highest level in the world are introduced, and research environments and know-how possessed by the experts and research teams are analyzed. The cases shows that the post catch-up research teams have research patterns to open new research field and integrate prior knowledge base with new knowledges from other research field. They succeed in producing highly regarded research results and making research platform for further advanced research.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.97-131
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• 2005

This paper has discussed several issues regarding the barriers and opportunities for technological catch-up by the late-comer countries and firms. As one of the barriers to technological catch-up, the paper emphasizes the uncertainty involved with the third stage of learning how to design. The barriers arise because as the forerunner firms refuse to sell or give license to successful catching-up firms who thus have to design the product by themselves. The paper discusses how to overcome this barrier. It also notes that if the crisis of design technology is a push factor for leapfrogging, arrival of new techno-economic paradigm can serve as a pull factor for leapfrogging, serving as a winder of opportunity. The, it emphasized the two risks with leapfrogging, namely the risk of choosing right technology or standards and the risk of creating initial markets, and how to overcome these risks. It discusses how to overcome these risks in leapfrogging, and differentiates diverse forms of knowledge accesses. Then, the paper takes up the issue of whether there can be a single common or several models for catch-up. A common element of catching-up is to enter new markets segments quickly, to manufacture with high levels of engineering excellence, and to be first-to-market by means of the best integrative designs. This observation is supported by the fact that Korea and Taiwan has achieved higher levels of technological capabilities in such sectors as featured by short cycle time of technology. The possibility of two alternative models for catch-up is also discussed in terms of the key difference between Korean and Taiwan, especially in the position toward the source of foreign knowledge and the paths taken toward the final goal of OBM. Taiwan followed the sequential steps of OEM, ODM and OBN, in collaboration or integration with the MNCs. Korean chaebols jumped from OEM directly to OBM even without consolidating design technology.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.267-276
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• 2023

R&D strategies of companies with low and high technological levels are discussed based on the concept of technology convergence and divergence. However, empirically detecting enterprise technology convergence in the distribution of enterprise technology (total productivity increase) over time and identifying key change factors are challenging. This study used a novel statistical indicator that captures the internal technology distribution change with a single number to clearly measure the technology distribution peak as a change in critical bandwidth for enterprise technology convergence and presented it as evidence of each technology convergence or divergence. Furthermore, this study applied the quantitative technology convergence identification method. Technology convergence appeared from the separation of total corporate productivity distribution of 69 IT companies in Korea in 2019-2020 rather than in 2015-2016. Results indicated that when the total technological level was separated from the technology leading and technology catch-up, IT companies were found to be pursuing R&D strategies for technology catch-up.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.581-606
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• 2004

Korean Innovation Systems are in transition from catch-up regime to post catch-up regime. This paper tries to analyse the change of scientific and technological practices in the public sector of Korea Innovation Systems. This paper focus on the way public sector scientific and technological practices are regulated and contribute to private sector. It is argued that self-governing practice of public S&T community is being enhanced and the requests of private sector for the public sector's contribution through research activity are reinforced in emerging post catch-up regime.