An Analysis Model for Knowledge-Based Industry Development from Cases Study of China

Abstract

Purpose – The development of knowledge industries is considered as the basis as well as the motor force of knowledge-based urban development (KBUD). In fact, the decline or stagnation of knowledge industries has always led to the failure of “Knowledge City (KC) Strategy” in some cities. Based on the case studies on several selected cities of China, we attempt to identify the key factors for the success of knowledge industries and thus to establish an integrated analysis framework for the knowledge industry development. Any city oriented to KC can use this model to analyze its situation for the development of knowledge industries as well as to formulate a right action plan.
Design/methodology/approach - Select five cities of China as for case studies. Examine and analyze their successful experiences on developing different knowledge industries in order to illustrate whether the key factors for their success still supported by the factor hypotheses revealed in The Diamond Model Theory (an analysis model for industrial competitiveness). Then, from the growth of key factors perspective and with our previous related work, an integrated analysis model for the knowledge industry development including the analysis process and related assessment methods is proposed in the end.
Findings - Six main factors are critical for the success of knowledge industry. Each main factor also contains some sub factors. Comprehensive analysis of a city’s strengths, weaknesses, chances and threats in these factors is highly valuable for identifying the city’s resources and capabilities for the knowledge industry development and its special development approach.
Research limitations/implications - The cities selected as for case studies are only located in China, consequently, the proposed suggestion for future research is to incorporate other successful cities in the world into our study in order to make the proposed model receive more test and improvement.
Practical implications – This analysis framework is adapted to any city. It can provide useful information for the urban authority to recognize its current situation for the knowledge industry development. Thus, it is good to support the formulations of related strategy and detailed action plans.
Originality/value - The framework described in this paper is not only a conceptual model, but also an explicit assessment method of the crucial factors for the development of knowledge industries. In addition, the conclusions of case studies successfully indicate the common features of knowledge-based urban development of China. Their successful experience will provide useful reference for other cities.
Key words: Knowledge city; Knowledge industry; Success factor; Analysis model