Analysis of the Key Success Factors of China’s Industrial Development: The Role of the Developmental State and Industrial Policy

China has undergone one of the world’s most remarkable industrial transformations over the past four decades, evolving from an agrarian economy into a global industrial and technological power. While prior studies emphasize abundant labor, foreign direct investment, export growth, and domestic market size, this study argues that the developmental state and industrial policy are the primary drivers of China’s success. The findings show that China’s industrial transformation was driven by the interaction of institutional capacity, strategic governance, targeted industrial policy, gradual reforms, infrastructure and human capital development, technological upgrading, innovation, private-sector growth, global integration, and continuous policy learning. The research results show that the central factor in China's industrial development experience has not only been the selection of appropriate policies, but also the high capacity of the government to design, coordinate, implement, evaluate, and continuously revise and adapt long-term development policies, institutional innovations, and observe sequences and gradualism instead of shock therapy; the capacity of the government has paved the way for the realization of other policies and the formation of a sustainable competitive advantage. Accordingly, developing institutional capacity, an efficient bureaucracy, and adaptive, gradual industrial policies are essential requirements for sustainable industrial development in developing countries.

کلیدواژه ها:

China ، Industrial Development ، Developmental State ، Industrial Policy ، Institutional Capacity ، Structural Transformation ، Industrial Competitiveness ، Policy Learning