Technology progress in the Chinese construction industry under the iron-fist of government

Abstract

Government policies and actions in transitional economies have far-reaching consequences for technology progress. Many studies suggest the important role of governments in providing policies and finance to facilitate technology innovations. The Chinese government has often been seen to exemplify this. This article probes government actions in practice, the way it is conducted and the negative consequences for innovation. We focus on one of China's most important and successful sectors – construction. An analytical framework based on ‘complex systems industry’ is used and a causal map developed to examine the role of the Chinese government acting as client, regulator and administrator of industrial and professional bodies and their impact on innovation in the construction sector. This paper confirms that innovation is industry specific and social and economic context dependent. While recognising the powerful role of the Chinese government, it argues that in reality the ‘Chinese government’ is not a uniform entity, but rather consists of various entities acting in accordance with their varied vested interests at a specific time and under particular circumstances.

Keywords:

• transition economies
• China
• construction industry
• technology progress
• complex systems industry

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge, with appreciation, detailed and helpful comments from Sally Stewart, former Visiting Professor University of the South Pacific and Head of the Department of Management Studies at the University of Hong Kong. The research was supported by the NSF of China (Grant No. 71202122) and the Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Program of the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 10JZDW003), whose help is also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

According to National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2008b, during 1995–2007, construction and installation accounts for about 60–65% of the total fixed capital investment.

Because there are also other ownership types, the sum of state-owned and private fixed capital investment is less than 100%.

From our interview sources.

Ibid.

Big forage caps means government officials or policemen in the Chinese context.

The interview with a building general contractor was carried out on 10 July 2009.

Our workshop minutes May 2007.