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In the face of escalating global competition in science and technology, complex product systems (CoPS) have emerged as a significant indicator of comprehensive national strength. The exploration of the catch-up phenomenon holds substantial implications for subsequent development of CoPS. Existing CoPS research often focuses on a single engineering task (such as high-speed rail) and market logic (such as the telecommunications industry), examining the catch-up phenomenon from a single or hard-power perspective. However, the China Manned Space Engineering Application System (CMSEAS), with its significant international influence and dual characteristics of scientific research and engineering development, presents a different scenario. Its market value is difficult to be reflected in a short time, making the relevance of existing research limited. This study selected CMSEAS as a case, and acquired data through interviews, internal meetings, on-site observations, official websites, archives, and other forms. Based on grounded theory, open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and a saturation test were carried out, and a catch-up model of CoPS was constructed by considering various influencing factors. The results show that the catch-up is driven by five major factors: support force is the basic condition for its gradual growth; the management system, technical capability, and human resource are interdependent and serve as the direct drivers of the catch-up; and social influence plays a significant role in propelling the catch-up indirectly. Notably, the setup of a general department, interaction among different factors, cultural soft power, and social influence serve as useful complements to previous studies.

Selecting a suitable approach to achieve sustainable economic growth, particularly in developing nations, has always been a central theme in economic research. Economists continually seek a universal factor driving this phenomenon. The theory of economic catch-up, rooted in the Schumpeterian school and informed by the developmental experiences of East Asia (South Korea, China, and Taiwan) offers a framework for understanding this growth and development. Since different sectors offer different potentials for developmental entry, selecting industries becomes a crucial question in transitioning from poverty to prosperity. Through an exploration of theoretical foundations and existing research, we've distilled four key indicators: technology life cycle, modularity of technology, explicit knowledge levels, and the extent of embodied technology transfer. These indicators serve as a framework for prioritizing and selecting industries in alignment with the catch-up approach. To determine priorities, we've assigned weights to these indicators using the hierarchical analysis method. Employing the PROMETHEE method to rank stock market industries in Iran, three industries emerged in the following order: computer and electronics, medical, optical, and measuring instruments, and automobile and spare parts. These findings provide a framework for identifying key industries in Iran's seventh development plan and industrial policy document, facilitating informed decision-making.

The aim of this study is examining Korean In Vitro Diagnostics (hereafter, IVD) companies’ catch-up with established medical device companies by analyzing the process of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguration during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (hereafter, COVID-19) pandemic. The potential catch-up of medical device companies in Korea has long been known as a demanding goal due to the conservative nature of the industry. While the rise of latecomers in industries such as mobile phones and automobiles is often observed, such a rise is rarely found in the medical device industry. Korean IVD companies have consistently been aiming at overtaking the existing leaders in the industry by pursuing technological innovation backed by active R&D investment. While the extant research on the topic of catch-up is enriched, there are small number of studies on the topic of the catch-up of medical device companies. This study focuses on understanding how two Korean IVD companies, SD Biosensor and Seegene, achieved meaningful catch-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the specific catch-up during the pandemic, this study adopted case study as a suitable method to examine the interactions between the pandemic and the device companies. The study results suggest that Korean IVD companies achieved significant growth by fully leveraging their dynamic capabilities in terms of market sensing (the emerging market dynamics associated with COVID-19) and opportunity seizing.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routine healthcare delivery, causing declines in CDC-recommended vaccination rates across the life-course in the United States (US). Ensuring protection against disease outbreaks and associated morbidity and mortality depends on improving vaccine coverage rates (VCRs) and uptake. The authors conducted a targeted literature review to assess the pandemic’s effects on routine vaccination rates across different populations, evaluating VCR recovery and improvement efforts. The review highlights articles published with data measuring or evaluating VCR decline across the US during the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 to April 2022, associated health impacts, and policy and programmatic strategies to recover routine VCRs. While vaccination rates stagnated or declined across some populations pre-pandemic, the review indicated there were further VCR declines in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019 across numerous CDC-recommended vaccines, ages, and geographies, with some vaccines and sub-populations disproportionally impacted. The review additionally identified declines in patient healthcare visit frequency and increases in morbidity and mortality associated with vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) complications. Reviewed publications highlighted multifaceted strategies that could aid in recovering VCRs. Overall, findings demonstrate a significant reduction in VCRs across all age groups and highlight promising solutions to inform vaccine uptake efforts and ensure broader protection against VPDs.

Data from the WHO and UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) 2022 revision were analyzed to assess the status of routine immunization in the WHO African Region disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, coverage for the first and third doses of the diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1 and DTP3, respectively) and the first dose of the measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) in the region was estimated at 80%, 72% and 69%, respectively (all below the 2019 level). Only 13 of the 47 countries (28%) achieved the global target coverage of 90% or above with DTP3 in 2022. From 2019 to 2022, 28.7 million zero-dose children were recorded (19.0% of the target population). Ten countries in the region accounted for 80.3% of all zero-dose children, including the four most populated countries. Reported administrative coverage greater than WUENIC-reported coverage was found in 19 countries, highlighting routine immunization data quality issues. The WHO African Region has not yet recovered from COVID-19 disruptions to routine immunization. It is critical for governments to ensure that processes are in place to prioritize investments for restoring immunization services, catching up on the vaccination of zero-dose and under-vaccinated children and improving data quality.

Technological catch-up is a very complex and time-consuming process that requires all kinds of capabilities to be acquired by the latercomer firms in order to successfully complete the various stages. This process is influenced by various factors that determine its failure or success. Considering the factors affecting the successful and unsuccessful cases in the catch-up process can gain a good insight for companies and countries that want to go through this path successfully. In this regard, in the present study, with the help of a systematic review of the literature, a framework of factors affecting the success of pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and knowledge-based industries was extracted in order to make a comparative comparison with the catch-up situation in the biopharmaceutical industry in Iran. Quantitative support of foreign and domestic studies of each of the factors by Shannon entropy method is calculated and compared with each other to identify gaps in the catch-up of the Iranian biopharmaceutical industry. The obtained results show that there is a high similarity between domestic and international articles in terms of entropy in terms of institutional environment, capability building, and technological regimes. It is also necessary to improve the unfavorable position of the domestic industry in the factors of the market catch-up, organizational issues and the catch-up strategies with the help of the proposed solutions.

Blockchain technology is one of the revolutionary technologies in service-based industries. E-health services are considered as a major economic and social activity in the world in which patients, the medical community and service providers such as insurance organizations play a key role. In Iran, e-health services have been introduced for more than a decade, but it is seriously lagging behind the leading countries. According to the Blockchain Opportunity window, a technological and economic catch-up is possible in e-health services in the country. Decentralization, data transparency, security and privacy are the key features of Blockchain technology. Therefore, in this research, through case study strategy and using documents, scientific articles, evidence, statistics and events and opinions of experts, policy factors were presented to catch-up through the Blockchain technology opportunity window. The dimensions of the proposed policy framework were presented in 4 categories: macro policies, market, financing, and technology learning and development. This study presents technological catch-up policy framework by Blockchain technology to policymakers for using in e-health services.

Early caregiving experiences set the stage for children’s developmental trajectories. Children who experience early adversity are more likely to show difficulties regulating their behaviors, emotions, and physiology than children who do not experience adversity. Parenting interventions designed to enhance parental sensitivity and responsiveness can buffer children from the detrimental effects of early adverse experiences and ultimately enhance child outcomes. One such intervention is Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an evidence-based home visiting program developed to enhance parental sensitivity and responsive care. In this paper, we review the intervention objectives and effectiveness of ABC. We then describe efforts made to supervise the fidelity and dissemination of ABC, including its implementation in diverse cultural contexts and with Spanish-speaking families in the United States. Lastly, we discuss the potential of ABC as a novel intervention to be implemented within the child welfare system in Spain and Latin America.

ObjectiveDespite recent progress in caring for patients born with esophageal atresia (EA), undernutrition and stunting remain common. Our study objective was to assess nutritional status in the first year after birth with EA and to identify factors associated with growth failure.Study designWe conducted a population-based study of all infants born in France with EA between 2010 and 2016. Through the national EA register, we collected prenatal to 1 year follow-up data. We used body mass index and length-for-age ratio Z scores to define patients who were undernourished and stunted, respectively. Factors with P < 0.20 in univariate analyses were retained in a logistic regression model.ResultsAmong 1,154 patients born with EA, body mass index and length-for-age ratio Z scores at 1 year were available for about 61%. Among these, 15.2% were undernourished and 19% were stunted at the age of 1 year. There was no significant catch-up between ages 6 months and 1 year. Patients born preterm (41%), small for gestational age (17%), or with associated abnormalities (55%) were at higher risk of undernutrition and stunting at age 1 year (P < 0.05). Neither EA type nor surgical treatment was associated with growth failure.ConclusionUndernutrition and stunting are common during the first year after birth in patients born with EA. These outcomes are significantly influenced by early factors, regardless of EA type or surgical management. Identifying high-risk patient groups with EA (i.e., those born preterm, small for gestational age, and/or with associated abnormalities) may guide early nutritional support strategies.

In the Netherlands, the Health Council has advised that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination should be offered to both boys and girls. Additionally, boys and men up to the age of 26 years should be included in a catch-up program. In this study, we examine the cost-effectiveness of this HPV catch-up program.We used a static Markov model to estimate the amount of cancers prevented and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for different scenarios.Vaccinating men from 12 until the age of 26 years would result in an average of 48 cancer cases prevented in every cohort (an estimated total of 720 cases), with an average ICER of €32,256.We found that the catch-up vaccination program results in a relevant number prevented cases against an acceptable cost-effectiveness ratio. Policymakers should take these findings into account when evaluating a gender-neutral HPV vaccination program in the Netherlands.

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the issue of catching and convergence at the level of firms, and investigates whether Korean firms tend to converge toward mature firms represented by the US firms in terms of their behavior and performance as well as firm-level innovations systems. It conducts regression analyses of several behavior and performance variables, using the data of the Korean and US firms during the 1990s, the 2000s, and 2010s. It finds some evidence of convergence, such that Korean firms become more profitability- rather than growth-oriented, borrowing and investing less, and thus being less indebted. However, they have not changed much in terms of their behavior toward firm values and dividend tendencies. Further analyses, using the patent-derived, innovation system variables, also confirm some aspects of convergence, compared with the early results, for which self-citations become significant and positive for firm values; furthermore, the variable of cycle time of technology is no longer significant for profitability, which is consistent with the results from the US firms. Meanwhile, changes in corporate governance associated with the rise of foreign shareholder are also shown to have resulted in higher profitability but insignificant change in firm values. An emerging conclusion is an ongoing but partially completed process of convergence.

There is limited data on the HPV immunization status of Latino/Hispanic youth in the USA. In Los Angeles County in 2015, 54,973 (34.3%) college students were of Latino/Hispanic background. We examined Los Angeles County college students’ awareness of HPV and HPV-related disease, HPV vaccine recommendations, and their vaccination status. This study surveyed 212 Los Angeles college students from January to April 2018. In a convenience sampling study, a 31-question, IRB-approved survey was administered face-to-face to college students 18 years and older at California State University settings in Los Angeles County. Almost two-thirds of the male (65%) and half of the female (51.6%) respondents did not know that the HPV vaccine is recommended through 26 years of age, and 47.6% did not know they can get the HPV vaccine at the college student health center or youth-friendly clinics. Ethnicity, family income, and the highest level of education in the family had a significant impact on immunization rates. Self-reported and actual HPV knowledge levels were significantly associated with vaccination status. Educational strategies focusing on the logistics of receiving the HPV vaccine and HPV vaccine catch-up eligibility for college students may be effective in decreasing racial disparities in vaccine receipt.

Recent studies on technological catch-up show a strategic shift from the whole process towards focusing on the processes. Traditionally, scholars were interested in examining the relationship between local and international sources of knowledge through quantitative methods. In more recent years, there has been a growing interest to understand the influential factors and the dynamism of catching-up processes altogether. Recent studies show that in order to reach a deeper understanding of technological catching-up by latecomers, it is crucial to focus on the challenges, difficulties and processes instead of the results per se. In this study, building on holistic case study approach, the CinnaGen Company as one of the successful catch-up companies in the Iranian biopharmaceutical industry is analyzed as a case. This research highlights the vital role of indigenous technological development effort in addition to the corroboration of the influencing factors as explicated in the literature on technological catching-up thus far. The findings of this research provide insights for biopharmaceutical industry as well as the catching-up literature.

Although catch-up campaigns (CCs) at the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) may accelerate their impact, supply constraints may limit their benefit if the need for additional PCV doses results in introduction delay. We studied the impact of PCV13 introduction with and without CC in Nha Trang, Vietnam – a country that has not yet introduced PCV – through a dynamic transmission model. We modelled the impact on carriage and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) of routine vaccination (RV) only and that of RV with CCs targeting

The article analyses the dynamics of technological catch-up through entrepreneurship in latecomer firms to emerging markets. With this aim, the article introduces Vietnam’s experience and illustrates the result of three case studies of Vietnamese technology firms at different stages of their evolution. Insights from the cases reveal all follow an incremental innovation model based on business model ‘soft’ innovations, mainly in customer-facing activities and partnering, as well as limited products and technology adaptation to local market needs. Consistently with latecomer firms’ theory, the market drives these firm’s innovation efforts, which are concentrated on developing new services and comprehensive solutions rather than new technologies. Comparisons of the findings with recent and similar experiences of Chinese firms highlight that different stages of catch-up lead to different innovation practices in nature and degree, and the need to strengthen institutions to face competition, rather than use the former to shelter from the latter. The Vietnamese firms’ innovation practices and catch-up patterns found are then discussed under the perspective of reaping the benefits of international knowledge and technology flows and the specific challenges faced by Vietnam. The paper concludes with several reflections, lessons learned and perspectives for other newly industrializing emerging countries.

This paper addresses the issue of catching and convergence at the level of firms, and investigates whether Korean firms tend to converge toward mature firms represented by the US firms in terms of their behavior and performance as well as firm-level innovations systems. It conducts regression analyses of several behavior and performance variables, using the data of the Korean and US firms during the 1990s, the 2000s, and 2010s. It finds some evidence of convergence, such that Korean firms become more profitability- rather than growth-oriented, borrowing and investing less, and thus being less indebted. However, they have not changed much in terms of their behavior toward firm values and dividend tendencies. Further analyses, using the patent-derived, innovation system variables, also confirm some aspects of convergence, compared with the early results, for which self-citations become significant and positive for firm values; furthermore, the variable of cycle time of technology is no longer significant for profitability, which is consistent with the results from the US firms. Meanwhile, changes in corporate governance associated with the rise of foreign shareholder are also shown to have resulted in higher profitability but insignificant change in firm values. An emerging conclusion is an ongoing but partially completed process of convergence.

Abstract Background The World Health Organisation recommends the use of catch-up campaigns as part of the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) to accelerate herd protection and hence PCV impact. The value of a catch-up campaign is a trade-off between the costs of vaccinating additional age groups and the benefit of additional direct and indirect protection. There is a paucity of observational data, particularly from low- and middle-income countries, to quantify the optimal breadth of such catch-up campaigns. Methods In Kilifi, Kenya, PCV10 was introduced in 2011 using the three-dose Expanded Programme on Immunisation infant schedule and a catch-up campaign in children

The dynamics of the corporate-level performance growth can reflect the pattern of the firms' reaction at the financial crisis moment. We employed the generalized metafrontier Malmquist productivity index to measure the impact of the financial crisis on the productivity of the biotechnology industry by using 68 biotechnology firms in the Asia-Pacific countries during 2001-2009. The empirical results showed that the financial crisis did not significantly impact productivity changes in the biotechnology industry in the Asia-Pacific region. This was primarily due to the improvements in efficiencies of scale and factor inputs reducing the overall impact. We observed a significant decreasing trend for technical changes in developed countries after the financial crisis. Therefore, how corporations enhance their technical innovation ability is relatively critical. The technological catch-up, the potential technological relative change, and the change in technical efficiency in less-developed countries were poor after the financial crisis. This suggests that less-developed countries should improve their technical and efficiency levels to enhance productivity.

The 2019 hepatitis A outbreak has become increasingly prevalent among adults in Korea and is the largest outbreak since that in 2009-2010. The incidence in the current outbreak is highest among adults aged 35-44 years, corresponding to the peak incidence among those aged 25-34 years 10 years ago. This may indicate a cohort effect in the corresponding age group. Causes of these repeated outbreaks of hepatitis A in Korea are low level of immunity among adults, Korean food culture that consumes raw seafood such as salted clam and inadequate public health system. Among countermeasures, along with general infectious disease control measures including control of the infectious agent, infection spread, and host, urgent actions are needed to review the vaccination policy and establish an adequate public health system.

Background: Migrants often undergo an incomplete vaccination program in regards to the French recommendations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the practices of French General Practitioners’ (GPs) in terms of catch-up vaccination. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried-out in 2017–2018 in France. An online questionnaire was disseminated by email through scholarly societies to GPs involved in the care and the vaccination of migrants. Analyses included univariate and multivariate analysis with a logistic regression model. Results: A total of 216 GPs completed the survey. A majority identified themselves with an average level regarding the prevention of infectious diseases among migrant populations (56.7%) and confirmed this is part of their daily practice (83.3%). The majority of respondents do not perform more than two injections on the same day. When compared to GPs working in health centres, those with a private practice are more likely to report returning to a full primary vaccination schedule (adjusted OR = 2.90, 95% CI [1.29–6.53]). Aside from the serology for hepatitis B and to a lesser extent for measles, other pre-vaccination serologies were not frequently used by GPs. When a migrant declares to be up-to-date with his immunisations, only 56.5% of doctors consider this information reliable. Conclusions: This study clarified the vaccination practices of GPs receiving migrant patients in consultation and showed its heterogeneity. An important need for benchmarks has been identified and these results were used for the elaboration of the French guidelines on vaccines catch-up.

In Vietnam, fishing is a crucial source of nutrition and employment, which not only affects the development of the domestic economy but is also closely related to exports, heavily influencing the economy and foreign exchange. However, the Vietnamese fishery sector has been facing many challenges in innovating production technology, improving product quality, and expanding markets. Hence, the fishery enterprises need to find solutions to increase labor productivity and enhance competitiveness while minimizing difficulties. This study implemented a performance evaluation from 2015 to 2018 of 17 fishery businesses, in decision making units (DMUs), in Vietnam by applying data envelopment analysis, namely the Malmquist model. The objective of the paper is to provide a general overview of the fishery sector in Vietnam through technical efficiency, technological progress, and the total factor productivity in the four-year period. The variables used in the model include total assets, equity, total liabilities, cost of sales, revenue, and profit. The results of the paper show that Investment Commerce Fisheries Corporation (DMU10) and Hoang Long Group (DMU8) exhibited the best performances. This paper offers a valuable reference to improve the business efficiency of Vietnamese fishery enterprises and could be a useful reference for related industries.

Real estate management and its operation play a crucial role in supporting company operation. Going hand-in-hand with the rapid growth of companies, the real estate portfolio has expanded dramatically, attracting large numbers of domestic and foreign investors. This paper studied the top 12 real estate companies listed on Vietnam’s stock market to develop a method that combines the Grey methodology and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Malmquist model, intending to predict and evaluate their performances in two periods: 2015–2018 and 2019–2022. The proposed model considered three input factors, namely total assets, cost of sales, and cost of goods sold, and two output factors, namely total revenue and gross profit. Findings revealed that drastic efficiency changes in some companies should be observed at the beginning of the process, even if the technological efficiency in the period is stable. In the future period, most companies achieved relatively stable productivity. This study serves as a reference for policymakers and strategy makers by analyzing insights for the operational status of real estate businesses and providing an overview in the future toward sustainable development.

This paper entails the experience of different European countries in what concerns economic gaps storage, “economic lag” and “catching-up the lag time”, confronting economic theories regarding economic growth determinants. Taking into consideration the cases of Denmark and Ireland, which have managed, in different historical periods, to surpass the peripheral condition and relative economic under- development, and to be part of the most developed and prosper group countries; the study evaluates the chances of other countries to realize similar progresses.

The success of the integration process of the new EU Member States is reflected by their nominal and real convergence performance. These tendencies are of special importance considering further enlargement of the Eurozone. The financial and economic crisis of 2008 has resulted, however, in a fundamentally new situation as regards these issues. The paper considers the experiences gained in real convergence, the catch-up processes and their future prospects. As for nominal convergence, only those factors were analysed which affect real convergence directly. In particular, the analysis focuses on the sustainability of the convergence processes. The possible trends of longer term growth and convergence processes are presented based on a qualitative analysis representing the supply side approach. The analysis is aimed at revealing potential - not insignificant - risks and threats

In this paper, I try to estimate the impact of Structural Funds on the growth rates of Objective 1 European regions during the two first programming periods (1989-2000). I develop a "hybrid" model of economic growth that partially endogenizes the rate of technical progress and I test its main implications following a panel data approach. The results suggest that Structural Funds have positively influenced the growth process of Objective 1 regions, although their impact has been stronger during the first programming period than the second. The same quantitative difference between the two programming periods appears in the estimated rates of beta-convergence and the catching-up effect.

Over the final two decades of the 20th century, a number of formerly industrializing economics achieved levels of innovative capacity commensurate with or greater than those of some economies that were historically more innovative. In this paper, I discuss the conditions and factors affecting innovative capacity. The framework of National Innovative capacity (NIC) can explain the difference in innovation and economic growth among countries. NIC is the ability of a country to produce and commercialize a flow of innovative technology over the long term. NIC depends on the strength of a nation’s common innovation infrastructure, the environment for innovation in its leading industrial clusters, and strength of linkage between these two areas. I use this framework to find the productivity of Iran NIC. The results of the estimated equations imply that there is a weak linkage between innovation and NIC.

Ongoing discussions between Russia and the EU on the formation of a Common European Economic Space bring back to mind Alexander Gerschenkron's classic essay on economic backwardness in historical perspective. This paper argues that the institutions that once produced a specific kind of catch-up economics in Czarist Russia still remain largely the same. Unless negotiations between Moscow and Brussels take into consideration such fundamental institutional incompatibility, attempts at harmonization, expressed by Brussels as an attempt tp spread Western values, will be doomed to fail. A cynical conlusion views potential convergence as adaptation by Brussels to traditional Russian institutional patterns of rule evasion, rather than a Westernization of Russia

Common innovation performance measures, which are based on research and development activities, are not relevant to dominant innovation behaviour of developing countries. The main functions of the innovation system of developing countries are capture, imitation, learning by doing and diffusion of knowledge, to reduce technology gaps with technology frontiers. Hence, the purpose of measuring innovation performance in a developing geographical area should be the evaluation on its success in technological learning and catching-up. Using the learning and technology gap concepts, in this paper we develop a novel model of measuring innovation performance of developing countries/regions, based on common regional statistics. In the virtual absence of mandatory firm level surveys, this model can provide a useful method to compare the innovation behaviour of regions for policymaker. Running the model with the data from the Iranian provinces, the paper concludes each province has its own specific innovation behaviour stemming from different historical development paths and geographical characteristics.

The paper argues that Thailand’s economic and social development from the late 19th century to the early 21st century presents a puzzle. For much of the period from 1870 to 1940, the country’s economic growth was slow, and the economy remained agricultural, with little diversification into modern industry or services. It was the only Southeast Asian country to escape direct colonization, and yet it did not use its relative freedom from colonial control to embark on a programme of accelerated economic, social and political modernization. The contrast with Meiji Japan has been made by several Thai and foreign scholars, but Thailand’s growth was also slow in comparison with several neighbouring countries under colonial control. Only in the late 1950s did economic growth start to accelerate and by 1996, per capita GDP was well ahead of other ASEAN countries except Malaysia and Singapore. The paper explores the reasons for the accelerated growth, looking particularly at the role of government. The paper also examines the reasons for the growth collapse of 1997/1998, and the slower economic growth since then.