State-firm relations in green industrial path creation: A case study of Zhongshan’s wind development

Keywords: green industrial path creation, state-firm relations, wind development, China
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 61

Abstract

With a dominance of firm-centred view in economic geography accounts, few inquiries have afforded equal attention to how state, as an indispensable governance actor, strategically and mindfully influences firm’s development paths, and how state-firm relations shape green industrial path creation over time. This presentation adopts this modified framework focusing on state-firm relations to unpack the mechanism of green industrial path creation in China. It develops three arguments through a case study of the role of state-firm relations in wind development in Zhongshan city. First, states, including national state, regional state and local state, play an important role in the development of wind power industry in Zhongshan. The major tools used by the government to stimulate and intervene in the process of wind development include incentive policies, electricity price subsidies, special funds, market access restrictions and standard setting, which would change with wind industrial development across spaces. Second, the firm (i.e. Mingyang Smart Energy in this case) directly engaged in and led its own green path creation, realizing the leap from traditional electronic and electrical field to wind power field. This transformation is closely related to the institutional environment where the state encourages the development of renewable energy industry, and the firm is affected by the corresponding policies of the state at each stage of technological upgrading. Third, the state-firm relations between firm and states at different levels are different, and their relationships also change over time.