Call for papers: "Technological Innovation Strategy: Lessons from the Emerging Economies"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital.

Technology is the engine of modern economic growth. Most technological innovations until now were almost entirely developed in Western industrial nations. The standard Western model of technological innovation, with market-leading companies in the developed world branching out to the lesser developed world, is increasingly being challenged by the emergence of technological innovation models rooted in the context of emerging economies. Now, we have technological innovations that have succeeded in the emerging economies, in the face of stiff competition from established multinationals, taking their fight for dominance to the home turf of these multinationals.

This area of technological innovation abounds with numerous examples of innovations from the emerging world, and the purpose of this special issue is to open a forum for researchers to synthesise a general framework that underpins these innovations, and to distill the essential features of this interesting development.

Another important dimension linked to technological innovation is technology innovation policy adopted by emerging economies. What policy instruments are the most effective in inducing companies to conduct R&D, and to stimulate universities and government laboratories to conduct frontier research and transfer the results to industry?

The organisation of this special issue will be based on the following broad structure. We will present contributions by experts from the most prominent emerging economies such as China, India and other BRIC countries, detailing specific case studies of homegrown companies and innovators from these emerging markets. The focus will on charting out the broad outlines of their technology strategy and deducing the key lessons learned as they compete against developed world multinationals, and finally to scrutinise the strategic avenues they are pursuing to compete with traditional multinationals in the global markets.

Based on these background papers, we will develop a general framework which will distill the essence of technological innovation strategy of competitors from emerging economies. This framework will offer valuable lessons for traditional multinationals to compete effectively against this new breed of competitors when extending their production and supplier networks to emerging market economies such as China. Finally, we will synthesise the emerging governance issues, for example, managing intellectual property rights, which result from the close interaction between the established multinationals and the new competitors.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Emerging economies
• Technological learning
• Multinational corporations
• Innovation networks
• Technological innovation strategy
• Science and technology policy
• Intellectual capital
• Clusters and innovation
• Technological innovation patterns
• Technological innovation management

Important Dates

Submission of abstracts: 1 September, 2013

Submission of manuscripts: 1 December, 2013

Notification to authors: 1 January, 2014

Submission of final versions: 1 February, 2014

Authors of papers submitted before the submission deadline can expect communications from the Guest Editors sooner. Early submission is therefore recommended.