Huawei's catch-up in the global telecommunication industry: innovation capability and transition to leadership

Using Huawei as an example, this paper analyses the catch-up process of latecomers from emerging markets during their transition towards global technological frontiers. We designed innovative indicators using USPTO patent data and used them to measure Huawei's catch-up in an established and an emerging technology field. We measure overall innovation capability (OIC) and core innovation capability (CIC), benchmarked against global forerunners, during its transition to industry leadership. Our findings indicate that Huawei built its OIC ahead of CIC. However, the effectiveness of its catch-up in CIC determined whether the latecomer firm achieved the leadership transition. Our findings make an important contribution to catch-up theory and carry significant implications for catching up firms and incumbent firms