Product Cycle, Wintelism, and Cross-national Production Networks (CPN) for Developing Countries-- China's Telecom Manufacturing Industry as A Case

Abstract

Focusing on the telecom manufacturing industry in China, this paper contends that the existing literature needs to be expanded in order to explain the Chinese case. First, product cycle theory could be applied to explain multinational corporations' strategies of importing and localizing their products in China in order to take advantage of lower labor costs and often more significantly to break barriers to the Chinese market. Second, there are no significant indicators pointing to local multinational subsidiaries and indigenous manufacturers serving as a substantial part of the cross-national production networks in the global telecom industry yet, although there are some signs of potential development. Third, the success of "Wintelism" and the maturity of cross-national production networks in the global market have had significant impacts on China's indigenous industry.