Abstract

The paper studies the evolution in the support to firms in China. Using a tailored imitative learning approach, Chinese policy makers have supported national champions (similarly to the Japanese experience), while also favouring the emergence of sectoral agglomerations of smes (as in the case of clusters and industrial districts). By means of an analysis of the leading industrial firms of Guangdong province, where the process of opening of Chinese economy started, the paper highlights specific (more or less explicit) choices of industrial policy that have driven the industrial development of the nation.