Lennart Schott, Kerstin J. Schaefer, and Rudi Bekkers have published a new research article in the Journal of Economic Geography. The study examines how generational technology shifts reshape collaboration in technical standardization and how Chinese firms have begun to bridge the “standardization gap” within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The authors construct a novel firm-collaboration dataset from 3GPP standards contributions and apply fractional logit regressions to panel data. They analyze how the collaborative connectivity of Chinese firms evolved during the transition from 3G to 4G relative to incumbents from Europe, the United States, and Japan, and how these changes reconfigured spatial collaboration patterns.
Findings indicate that following the 3G-to-4G shift, Chinese firms disproportionately strengthened their collaboration within standardization networks, particularly with geographically and institutionally proximate partners in the Asia-Pacific region. This narrowed the standardization gap and suggests that technological generational change can open windows of opportunity for late entrant firms to expand their role in standard setting.
The results carry implications for policymakers and standard-setting organizations: targeted support for participation in international SDOs, capacity building, and more inclusive platforms can improve access for underrepresented regions. More broadly, the study highlights how generational technological change can reconfigure the geography of collaboration and partially rebalance asymmetries in global standardization processes.
Schott, L.; Schaefer, K. J.; Bekkers, R. (2026): Chinese firms bridging the standardization gap in 3GPP: liabilities of outsidership and the role of technological shifts. Journal of Economic Geography, lbaf064. DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lbaf064
