产品开发与产业升级——中国车用柴油机工业的历史教训

Product Development and Industrial Upgrading:Lessons from China's Vehicle Diesel Engine Industry

经济转型的紧迫性和有限的政策空间要求中国工业必须找准产业升级的切入点和突破口。与其他途径相比,自主产品开发是实现转型升级、构筑竞争优势的根本动力。因此,中国的产业升级应抓住产品开发这个微观基础和关键环节,将其作为资本投入和技术学习的中心,并以此为核心来组织各种升级手段。车用柴油机工业的案例从反面说明了产品开发对产业升级的重要性:如果无法控制产品开发,中国工业就无法适应持续的技术进步,而只能长期处于产业演进和国际分工体系中的被动位置。打破这种不利局面,政府要在增强自主性和实施产品开发这两个方向的诸多方面作出努力。

The urgency of economic transformation and the limited policy space require proper breakthrough points in industrial upgrading. Compared to other approaches, indigenous product development is the fundamental driving force to shape industrial structure and build competitive advantage. Therefore China has to grasp product development which is the key link and micro-foundation in industrial upgrading, put it as the core of capital investment and technological learning, and organize other approaches around it. The historical lessons of China＇s vehicle diesel engine industry show the importance of product development in industrial upgrading. Its failure proves that Chinese industry could not adapt to on-going technical change when they could not control product development. Such inadaptation will lead to disadvantage in industrial evolution and international division. To break away from this disadvantage calls for systematic reform in S＆T infrastructure, performance assessment of SOEs, and institution-building based on local context.