Technological Catch-up by East Asian Firms: Trends, Issues, and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

This paper reviews extant research on technological catch-up of East Asian firms, which has recently emerged as an important issue. We review 76 articles on technological catch-up in the East Asian context published in 17 journals over 23 years (1995–2017), covering the academic disciplines of strategic management, international business, entrepreneurship, technology and innovation management, and economics. Based on a systematic analysis of this literature, we develop an overarching framework to this topic. We then identify the major gaps in the literature and suggest areas for future research on technological catch-up of Asian firms.

Keywords

• technological catch-up
• latecomer
• incumbent
• east asia
• leapfrogging
• innovation
• imitation
• laggard