Abstract
The chapter describes the trajectory of Chinese economy along the 40 years of reforms started by Deng Xiaoping. The goal is to better understand the changes and evolution of demand and supply of healthcare goods and services in China in the light of the impressive Chinese growth and economic development. Beside the Open Door and Go Global policies, a specific attention is paid to the New Normal and Xi Jinping’s economics. The Made in China 2025 Plan and the Belt and Road Initiative are examined as a combined set of industrial policies that are turning China into a world-class innovation-oriented economy. The case of healthcare industries is analysed in the light of those policies, in order to introduce the following chapters, where healthcare industries are examined in detail. After a brief depiction of the Chinese healthcare context in terms of both demand and supply, some data about word trade of healthcare goods are examined, to better frame the actual competitive position of China compared to other Western countries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In April 2018, a new International Development Cooperation Agency (IDCA) was launched in China after deliberation by the country’s 19th party congress in October 2017, and endorsement by the National People’s Congress in March 2018. The Agency will be responsible for “coordinating and managing the country’s foreign aid policy, both financing and implementation. The agency is linked directly to the Chinese state council, the government’s multiministerial coordinating body. Up until now, China’s health ministry has played mostly a technical role in executing overseas health projects designed by the ministry of commerce” (Chen and Yang 2018).
- 2.
EFPIA, The Pharmaceutical Industry in Figures. Key Data 2018, https://www.efpia.eu/media/361960/efpia-pharmafigures2018_v07-hq.pdf
- 3.
www.statista.com, on Torreya and OECD data.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
Instruments and appliances are those used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary science, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments.
- 7.
Data about medical technology include IPC classes A61 medical or veterinary science; hygiene [B, C, D, F, G, H, J, L, M, N,] and H05G, that is, X-ray techniques. See: https://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/
- 8.
References
Barbieri, Elisa, Marco R. Di Tommaso, and Manli Huang. 2010. Industrial Development Policy and Innovation in Southern China: Government Targets and Firms’ Behavior. European Planning Studies 18 (1): 83–105.
Barbieri, Elisa, Marco R. Di Tommaso, and Mattia Tassinari. 2015. Politiche industriali selettive e settori strategici. Lo scenario e le scelte di Pechino. L’industria Rivista di economia e politica industriale 3: 403–434.
Barbieri, Elisa, Manli Huang, Shenglei Pi, and Mattia Tassinari. 2017. Restructuring the Production of Medicines: An Investigation on the Pharmaceutical Sector in China and the Role of Mergers and Acquisitions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14 (10): 1179.
Barbieri, E., M.R. Di Tommaso, C. Pollio, and L. Rubini. 2020. Getting the Specialization Right. Industrialization in Southern China in a Sustainable Development Perspective. World Development 126: 104701.
Bellabona, Paola, and Francesca Spigarelli. 2007. Moving from Open Door to go Global: China Goes on the World Stage. International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management 1 (1): 93–107.
Bianchi, Patrizio, and Sandrine Labory. 2018. Industrial Policy for the Manufacturing Revolution. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers.
Chang, Ha-Joon. 1994. The Political Economy of Industrial Policy. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Chen, Lincoln, and Minhui Yang. 2018. New Opportunities for China in Global Health, Comment. Lancet. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2214-109X%2818%2930263-8.
Cheung, Felix. 2011. Made in China. Nature 480, S82–S183, December 22.
Choi, Y. 2011. The Evolution of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”: Its Elliptical Structure of Socialist Principles and China’s Realities. Pacific Focus 26 (3): 385–404.
Deng, X. 1985. Build Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Foreign Languages Press.
Di Tommaso, Marco R., and Mattia Tassinari. 2014. Governo e Industria negli Stati Uniti. Le pratiche del passato e il dibattito sulle politiche del presente. L’industria 3: 369–408.
Di Tommaso, Marco R., Lauretta Rubini, and Elisa Barbieri. 2013. Southern China: Industry, Development and Industrial Policy. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.
Di Tommaso, Marco, Stefano Bonnini, and Qi Yue. 2017. Focusing on the Chinese Health Industry: An Empirical Enquiry on the TCM Listed Firms. Is Large and Private Beautiful? International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management 16 (1/2): 77.
Di Tommaso, Marco R., Chiara Pollio, Elisa Barbieri, and Lauretta Rubini. 2019. Chinese Industrialization, Planning and Policies: Local Growth and Global Equilibria. In Transforming Industrial Policy for Digital Age: Production, Territories, and Structural Change, ed. P. Bianchi, C. Ruiz Duran, and S. Labory. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Dirlik, A. 1989. Postsocialism? Reflections on “socialism with Chinese Characteristics”. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 21 (1): 33–44.
Garnaut, Ross, Ligang Song, and Cai Fang. 2018. China’s 40 Years of Reform and Development: 1978–2018. ANU Press.
Li, Ling, and Heng Quan. 2017. The Logic of Long-Term Growth of China: From New Normal to Supply-Side Reform. International Journal of China Studies 8 (2): 139–160.
Lin, Xianghong Annie, Chan Ging, Yuanjia Hu, Defang Ouyang, Carolina Oi lam Ung, Luwen Shi, and Hao Hu. 2018. Internationalization of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Current International Market, Internationalization Challenges and Prospective Suggestions. Chinese Medicine 13 (9). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13020-018-0167-z.
Liu Zhihua. 2018. TCM Exports Up as Local Firms Ride B&R Initiative. China Daily, August 27. Accessed February, 28, 2020. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201808/27/WS5b8368a1a310add14f387f0e.html.
McKinsey Global Institute. 2015. The China Effect on Global Innovation, October.
Mucelli, Attilio. 2018. Relevance of Western Medicine and TCM in the Chinese and European Markets: An Overview. In Healthcare policies and Systems in Europe and China. 2018, ed. Attilo Mucelli and Francesca Spigarelli. Singapore: World Scientific.
Petti, Claudio, Francesco Prota, and Lauretta Rubini. 2016. Two Decades of Made in China Innovation. L’industria 37 (4): 565–585.
Pharmaceutical Executive. 2019. 2019 PharmExec 50, World Beaters. Leading Through Organizational Disruption, 39(6).
Prodi, G., Frattini, F. & Nicolli, F. The diffusion and embeddedness of innovative activities in China. Econ Polit 35, 71–106 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-017-0088-9.
Reiter, M.A. Michael. 2019. China to Take on Leading Role in Medical Technology and Artificial Intelligence. E-healthnews. Accessed January 28, 2020. https://www.ehealthnews.eu/industry/6003-china-to-take-on-leading-role-in-medical-technology-and-artificial-intelligence.
Rodrik, Dani. 2008. Normalizing Industrial Policy. Commission on Growth and Development Working Paper, n. 3. Washington, DC, World Bank.
Rubini, Lauretta, Chiara Pollio, and Marco R. Di Tommaso. 2017. Transnational Research Networks in Chinese Scientific Production. An Investigation on Health-Industry Related Sectors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14 (9): 975–994.
Spigarelli, Francesca, and Ping Lv. 2018. The New Silk Road to Europe: Retrospect and Prospect of the Belt and Road Initiative 5 Years from Inception. Working Paper, Ambrosetti House. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.ambrosetti.eu/summit-workshop-e-forum/summit-internazionali-con-think-tank/belt-and-road-2018/.
SRD (Statista Research Department). 2019. Pharmaceutical Industry in China, Statista Report.
Suwatchai Songwanich. 2019. Exporting Traditional Chinese Medicine Worldwide. Bangkok Post, September 30. Accessed February 28, 2020. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1761424/exporting-traditional-chinese-medicine-worldwide
Tan, Huileng. 2018. China’s Pharmaceutical Industry is Poised for Major Growth. Cnbc. Accessed July 7, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/19/chinas-pharmaceutical-industry-is-poised-for-major-growth.html.
Tang, Kun, Zhihui Li, Wenkai Li, and Lincoln Chen. 2017. China’s Silk Road and Global Health. Lancet 390: 2595–2601.
The Economist. 2019. The Great Experiment. Can China Become a Scientific Superpower?, January 12. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/01/12/can-china-become-a-scientific-superpower.
Torrey, Zachary. 2018. China Prepares for Big Pharma. The Diplomat. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/china-prepares-for-big-pharma/.
Uretsky, Elanah, Jennifer Bouey, and Rebecca Katz. 2018. China’s Emerging Role in Global Health. Health Affairs Blog. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180109.759800/full/.
World Health Organization. 2013. WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy: 2014–2023. Geneva: WHO Press.
———. 2019. Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine. Geneva: WHO Press.
Wübbeke, Jost, Mirjam Meissner, Max J. Zenglein, Jaquelines Ives, and Bjorn Conrad. 2016. Made in China 2025: The Making of a High-tech Superpower and Consequences for Industrial Countries. Merics Paper on China. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.merics.org/sites/default/files/2017-09/MPOC_No.2_MadeinChina2025.pdf
Xinhua. 2019a. Traditional Chinese Medicine Exports Rebound in 2017. Xinhua. Accessed February 28, 2020. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201807/31/WS5b5ff887a31031a351e91370.html.
———. 2019b. TCM Further Incorporated into Global Medical System. Xinhua, November 8. Accessed February 28, 2020. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/08/c_138539487.htm.
Zenglein, Max J., and Anna Holzmann. 2019. Evolving Made in China 2025. China’s Industrial Policy in the Quest for Global Tech Leadership. Merics Paper on China no. 8, July. Accessed July 28, 2019. https://www.merics.org/en/papers-on-china/evolving-made-in-china-2025.
Zheng G., Barbieri E., Di Tommaso M.R., Zhang L. (2016), Economic and Technology Development Zones, sez and Other Special Economic Enclaves: Zooming in on the Chinese Case, in China Economic Review., 38, pp. 238–249.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Di Tommaso, M.R., Spigarelli, F., Barbieri, E., Rubini, L. (2020). The Rise of China as a Global Player in the Healthcare Industry. In: The Globalization of China’s Health Industry. Palgrave Studies of Internationalization in Emerging Markets. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46671-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46671-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-46670-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-46671-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)