Technological catch-up in complex product systems.sup.1 1 Earlier versions of this paper have been presented in various places, including the High-level Knowledge Forum, October. 15-16, 2012, Seoul, South Korea; the Asia Pacific Innovation Conference (APIC 2012), October 13-14 2012, Seoul National University; and Frontiers in Development Policy Conference (organised by World Bank), 21-22 November 2013, Seoul, South Korea

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2016.07.003 Byline: Mehdi Majidpour Abstract: This paper highlights distinctive features of technological catch-up in complex product systems (CoPS). This paper contrasts catch-up trends in CoPS with trends in mass-market commodity goods, such as those produced in South Korea. Developing countries are lagging behind in many CoPS areas and technological catch-up in CoPS industries is a very challenging process. This paper argues that due to specific technological and market regimes, the dominant model of technological catch-up in CoPS is based on path-following catch-up. Stage-skipping catch-up is only possible in minor technologies and path-creating catch-up is almost impossible in CoPS industry. Author Affiliation: Department of Management, Science and Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Article History: Received 25 August 2015; Revised 17 July 2016; Accepted 28 July 2016