Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia?
Chinese special economic zones (SEZs) have played a key role in attracting massive foreign investment and in facilitating knowledge and technology transfer to local companies. This explains the mushrooming of Chinese-led SEZs and industrial parks in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa since the early...
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sg-ntu-dr.10356-1620912022-10-04T04:57:59Z Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? Alves, Ana Cristina Lee, Celia School of Social Sciences Nanyang Centre for Public Administration Social sciences::Economic development Tacit Knowledge Dynamic Theory Chinese special economic zones (SEZs) have played a key role in attracting massive foreign investment and in facilitating knowledge and technology transfer to local companies. This explains the mushrooming of Chinese-led SEZs and industrial parks in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa since the early 2000s, and more recently its prominence in the planning of the economic corridors along the Belt and Road Initiative. Our interest in SEZs derives from the fact that they provide novel grounds to investigate the dynamics of knowledge transfer (KT) in South–South exchanges and the extent to which it diverges from more traditional exchanges. This study undertakes a comparative analysis of KT in the Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) in Ethiopia, and the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) in Cambodia. The case studies suggest that, although the provision of training by Chinese investors has added value to the labour force, its transformative impact is limited owing to the concentration on explicit KT modalities at lower skills levels and the top–down approach to KT by Chinese companies. These limitations are largely a function of the wide absorptive capacity gap between China and the host countries studied and the absence of more conducive industrial policies. Ministry of Education (MOE) The research of this paper was supported by Singapore Ministry of Education AcRF Tier-2 Grant entitled “Transnational Knowledge Transfer and Dynamic Governance in Comparative Perspective” [MOE2016-T2-02-87]. 2022-10-04T04:57:59Z 2022-10-04T04:57:59Z 2022 Journal Article Alves, A. C. & Lee, C. (2022). Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia?. Global Policy, 13(S1), 45-57. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13060 1758-5880 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162091 10.1111/1758-5899.13060 2-s2.0-85127727653 S1 13 45 57 en MOE2016-T2-02-87 Global Policy © 2022 Durham University and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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Social sciences::Economic development Tacit Knowledge Dynamic Theory Alves, Ana Cristina Lee, Celia Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
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Chinese special economic zones (SEZs) have played a key role in attracting massive foreign investment and in facilitating knowledge and technology transfer to local companies. This explains the mushrooming of Chinese-led SEZs and industrial parks in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa since the early 2000s, and more recently its prominence in the planning of the economic corridors along the Belt and Road Initiative. Our interest in SEZs derives from the fact that they provide novel grounds to investigate the dynamics of knowledge transfer (KT) in South–South exchanges and the extent to which it diverges from more traditional exchanges. This study undertakes a comparative analysis of KT in the Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) in Ethiopia, and the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) in Cambodia. The case studies suggest that, although the provision of training by Chinese investors has added value to the labour force, its transformative impact is limited owing to the concentration on explicit KT modalities at lower skills levels and the top–down approach to KT by Chinese companies. These limitations are largely a function of the wide absorptive capacity gap between China and the host countries studied and the absence of more conducive industrial policies. |
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School of Social Sciences |
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School of Social Sciences Alves, Ana Cristina Lee, Celia |
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Article |
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Alves, Ana Cristina Lee, Celia |
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Alves, Ana Cristina |
title |
Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
title_short |
Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
title_full |
Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
title_fullStr |
Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in China’s special economic zones in Ethiopia and Cambodia? |
title_sort |
knowledge transfer in the global south: reusing or creating knowledge in china’s special economic zones in ethiopia and cambodia? |
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2022 |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162091 |
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1746219677928914944 |