From a strategic tripod perspective research on the upgrading of the global value chain of China's photovoltaic industry

Abstract

General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his speech in September 2020, "China will increase its nationally determined contributions, adopt more powerful policies and measures, and strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060." On October 24, 2021, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality". The opinion clearly states that by 2025, an economic system of green, low-carbon and circular development will be initially formed, and the energy utilization efficiency of key industries will be greatly improved. By 2030, the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development will achieve remarkable results, and the energy utilization efficiency of key energy-consuming industries will reach the international advanced level. Against the background of the acceleration of the global green energy transformation process, the development of the photovoltaic industry has attracted much attention. In order to achieve low-carbon development goals, China's energy structure must undergo major changes, and the photovoltaic industry plays a vital role. From the perspective of global photovoltaic industry development, China is currently the world's largest photovoltaic market and the largest photovoltaic manufacturing in Chins. China's photovoltaic industry has become a world-leading, independent innovation and green development industry, making important contributions to global energy transformation and addressing climate change. Since 2013, China's newly installed photovoltaic capacity has ranked first in the world for 10 consecutive years. In 2022, the world's new installed photovoltaic capacity will be 240GW, and China's new installed photovoltaic capacity will reach 87.41GW. China's new installed photovoltaic capacity will account for 36.42% of the world's new installed photovoltaic capacity. Since 2015, China's cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity has ranked first in the world for eight consecutive years. The global cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity in 2022 will be 1,185GW, and according to data released by the National Energy Administration, China's cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity will reach 392.04GW, accounting for 33.08% of the global share. The status of Chinese photovoltaic companies in the global value chain continues to rise. Production capacity and output in all aspects of the photovoltaic industry chain occupy a leading position in the world. China has become the center of the global photovoltaic industry. Looking back at the development history of the photovoltaic industry, we find that compared with Western developed countries, China's photovoltaic industry is a latecomer industry and encountered many problems in the early stages of industrial development. For example, serious dependence on exports, financing difficulties, and imbalanced industrial chain structure. From 2011 to 2013, as the financial crisis and the European debt crisis continued, and the United States imposed high punitive tariffs on Chinese photovoltaic companies in the name of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, Chinese photovoltaic companies experienced their darkest moments and struggled. However, just when most people abroad thought that China's photovoltaic companies had failed to recover, in just ten years, China's photovoltaic industry bucked the trend and grew and ranked first in the world. This triggers our thinking: How did China's photovoltaic industry develop from a backward, import-dependent, and external industry to an advanced, independently controllable, and world-leading industry? Existing research mainly focuses on the discussion of photovoltaic industry policies, believing that industrial policy support has a positive impact on photovoltaic companies' ability to climb the global value chain. However, judging from the development history of global photovoltaic companies, developed countries such as the West also implemented industrial policies to support the rapid development of photovoltaic companies in their early stages of development. Therefore, it is impossible to fully explain how Chinese photovoltaic companies can climb up the global value chain from the single perspective of industrial policy. Based on the strategic tripod perspective, this article believes that industrial policy support, cross-ecosystem coordination, and R&D investment are important factors that determine the upgrading of the global value chain by China's photovoltaic companies. This article focuses on the factors affecting the upgrading of the global value chain of photovoltaic enterprises through literature review, typical data analysis, international comparison and empirical testing. Specifically, industrial policy support is a key driving force for photovoltaic companies to upgrade the global value chain. However, industrial policy support alone is not enough. Cross-ecosystem coordination is an important support for photovoltaic companies to upgrade the global value chain. During the comparative analysis of the development of the photovoltaic industry with developed countries such as the United States, it was found that weak supply chains, high production costs, and hollow industrial structures are among the reasons that restrict the development of the photovoltaic industry in developed countries. Not only does China have low labor costs, it is also the largest manufacturing in China. The coordinated development of upstream and downstream industries provides support for China's photovoltaic companies to upgrade the global value chain. In addition, considering that in the later stage of industrial policy decline, China's photovoltaic companies can still maintain rapid development, and R&D innovation is an important driving force for China's photovoltaic companies to upgrade the global value chain. Therefore, under the superposition of the three forces of industrial policy promotion, cross-ecosystem coordination, and R&D innovation, China's photovoltaic companies have developed rapidly, cultivated international competitiveness, successfully climbed up the global value chain, and ranked first in the world. In terms of empirical testing, the research perspective of this article is focused on the micro-enterprise level, using the listed company database to match the China Customs import and export database, and verifying the main factors affecting the upgrading of the global value chain by China's photovoltaic companies from 2009 to 2016. Empirical results show that policy support, cross-ecosystem coordination, and R&D innovation have significantly promoted the rise of the global value chain of photovoltaic companies. The research results of this article provide reference suggestions for other industries to upgrade their global value chains.