Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Triulzi, G. 
Author-Email: triulzi@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Title: Technology life cycle and specialization patterns of latecomer
	 countries: The case of the semiconductor industry
Abstract: Catching-up, leapfrogging and falling behind in terms of output and 
	 productivity in high-tech industries crucially depends on firms ability 
	 to keep pace with technological change. In fast changing industries 
	 todays specialization does not guarantee tomorrows success as changes 
	 in the technological trajectories reward and punish firms 
	 specialization patterns. This highlights the importance of studying the 
	 relationship between technology life cycle and specialization patterns 
	 of new and incumbent innovators. From an empirical point of view life 
	 cycles have been extensively analysed at the industry and product level 
	 but not so deeply at the technology one even though plenty of 
	 theoretical contributions exist. We define a methodology to describe 
	 the life cycle stages of the main technological paradigm within an 
	 industry and of the technological areas it is composed of. The 
	 methodology is based on the analysis of the age composition of the 
	 different areas and of the characteristics of their technological 
	 trajectories. We use the classification of the life cycle stages of the 
	 single areas to investigate specialization patterns of new and incumbent 
	 innovators. Our results show that up to the end of the 1990s firms from 
	 Taiwan, Korea and Singapore specialized mainly in areas at the later 
	 stages of their life cycles, whereas US and Japanese firms were 
	 comparatively better in younger areas. Specialization patterns changed 
	 in the beginning of the 2000s, when the Asian Tigers started to become 
	 comparatively stronger in emerging areas.
Classification-JEL: O20, O32, O33, O38
Keywords: Technology Life Cycle, Industry Life Cycle, Product Life  Cycle,
	 Specialization Patterns, Technological Paradigms, Technological 
	 Trajectories, Main Path Analysis, Catching-up, Semiconductors, Citation
	 networks, Community Detection
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20140231
Number: 2014-012
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2014/wp2014-012.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 391 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2014012