China's increasing participation in ICT's global value chain: A firm level analysis

This paper synthesises evidence from international trade data of China-based ICT companies in order to map their involvement in the ICT global value chain (GVC). The ICT GVC is divided into three types of companies: Own Brand Manufacturers (OBMs), component companies and Electronic Manufacturers (EMS)/Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs). The firm-level trade data provide us with a clear overall picture of the structure and relationships of the three types of companies, while identifying the key players. The evidence shows that China's increasing participation in the ICT GVC is related to modularisation of product architecture, globalisation of production, and outsourcing and offshoring of manufacturing, and while several Chinese companies are rising rapidly, China continues to linger in the low value-added segments of the ICT GVC because of its ongoing dependence on foreign technology and its associated intellectual property (IP). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.