Title: The technological experiences and catching-up path in the Korean mobile equipment industry

Authors: Jae-Keun Lee

Addresses: e-Commerce Department, Semyung University, San 21, Shinwol-dong, Jechon, Chungchungbuk-do 390-711, South Korea

Abstract: With respect to technological expertise, its globalisation and the subsequent development of technological capability, Korea, a catching-up country, had some experiences of identifiable discontinuities in her successive technological learning in various industries. The fundamental issue of this paper is to demonstrate how the technological experiences in Korean high-tech industries have affected her technological path, and differentiated it from her previous path of industrialisation. This study takes the premise that the successful technological |experiences| make the players take challengeable and strategic opportunity in technological selection from the previous infrastructure capability, which is composed of networking and investment capabilities. For this purpose, it proposes an analytical framework for examining a developmental path of Korean catching-up players, and analyses the case of the Korean mobile communication industry based on this framework. It also argues that investment and networking capabilities have played an infrastructural role in building her technological capability.

Keywords: code division multiple access; CDMA; technological capability; catch-up; technological experiences; technological path; Korea; innovation; technology learning; high-tech industries; high technology firms; mobile communications.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2007.013500

International Journal of Technology Management, 2007 Vol.39 No.3/4, pp.364 - 379

Published online: 02 May 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article