Research into the Path Evolution of Manufacturing in the Transitional Period in Mainland China

Manufacturing transition is an important part of industrial upgrading. At present, Chinese scholars study the problem of manufacturing chiefly from two perspectives: The first is to discuss the status quo of Chinese manufacturing from the perspective of industrial competitiveness, with countermeasures put forward against manufacturing upgrading. The second is to directly discuss the upgrading of manufacturing from the perspective of global value chain, with the following proposal put forward: Chinese manufacturing upgrading should stretch from the low end to both ends of value chain. In addition, a discussion is also made to the role of producer services in promoting manufacturing, and the role of governmental regulations in upgrading manufacturing. Although these two perspectives are rational, they have some defects: Both of them are based on the hypothesis that the institutional environment in which manufacturing lies is stationary, and manufacturing is considered and measured with systems as exogenous variables; so the impact of institutional environment on manufacturing upgrading is overlooked. Based on reviewing previous literature, this chapter analyzes and discusses the path evolution of manufacturing in the transitional period in mainland China.