Study on technological catching-up performance of China´s auto firms

This paper mainly discussed on two questions: what is the technological catching-up model of domestic auto firms in China and how about their catching-up performance? Based on existing relevant literature and the fact of domestic car companies´ catching-up in China, this study explores and proposes a model of technological catching-up. Different from latecomer firms in other countries such as South Korea, the technological catching-up model of China´s car companies is a hybrid model, which consists of joint venture dominated model, introduction dominated model, introduction accessorial model, independent development model, and cooperative development model. Through the method of principle component analysis, this paper establishes an evaluation model and index system of technological catching-up, by which we evaluate China´s domestic auto firms technological catching-up performance. This study finds that the technological catching-up model influences its performance, the descending order of which is as follows: independent development model, introduction accessorial model, cooperative development model, introduction dominated model, and joint venture dominated model. In the end, according to the research finding this paper puts forward some suggestions for both companies and the government.