E2020010                                                        2020-08-16

Xiangting Hu

School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)

Jianqing Ruan

Academy of China Rural Development, Zhejiang University

Xiaobo Zhang

National School of Development, Peking University and IFPRI

Abstract

Supporting institutions and policies play a key role in facilitating upgrades to product quality among manufacturing firms. However, the emergence of quality-supporting institutions has not been well studied. Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence in Chinese clusters, this paper shows that quality-enhancing institutions and policies often emerge in response to crises, such as consumer boycotts and impositions of export barriers, which can catalyze collective action from entrepreneurs and local governments to improve product quality.

Keywords: crisis, manufacturing industry, cluster, quality upgrade

讨论稿下载../../../../docs/20200816195645431217.pdf