East Asian Legal Studies Talk:
Angela Huyue Zhang
Professor of Law
Universi
ty of Southern California\, Gould School of Law
Professor Zhang will discuss “The Platform State: How China Governs Innovation to Achieve Tech S upremacy\,” her current joint project with S. Alex Yang\, Professor of Mana gement Science and Operations at London Business School.
China’s inno vation economy presents a puzzle. In recent years\, the country has emerge d as a leader in fields ranging from advanced manufacturing to artificial i ntelligence and biotechnology. Yet technological success has not consistent ly translated into financial success for Chinese firms. Across many high-te ch sectors\, even leading companies operate on razor-thin margins\, while o thers incur substantial losses.
To resolve this puzzle\, this talk co nceptualizes China as a “platform state” that governs innovation by orchest rating an ecosystem composed largely of relatively autonomous yet highly in terdependent firms. This model of governance follows three strategic princi ples that make China resemble a platform company: prioritizing ecosystem or chestration over picking winners\, embedding control in key interfaces alon gside selective ownership\, and scaling first and capturing value later. W hile China is not the first to adopt platform strategy to spur innovation\, it stands apart in combining strong state capacity and domestic scale need ed to cultivate a vast innovation ecosystem with substantial discretion ove r how its gains are distributed and deployed.
Law is central to the p latform state model\, enabling experimentation and expansion while maintain ing order in the innovation ecosystem. By shifting the unit of analysis fro m individual firms to the ecosystem as a whole\, the platform-state framewo rk advances a new organizational theory of state capitalism and broadens th e conventional scope of industrial policy. It also offers a more nuanced ac count of Chinese institutions and contributes to a richer understanding of the functions of law in China.
Angela Huyue Zhang is Professor of Law at the University of Southern California\, where she write s and teaches at the intersection of law\, technology\, and geopolitics. He r research examines the institutional dynamics of regulation and governance \, with a current focus on the U.S.–China tech rivalry and the global regul ation of artificial intelligence. Zhang is the author of two award-winning books: Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challeng es Global Regulation (Oxford University Press\, 2021) and High Wir e: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy (Oxford Univer sity Press\, 2024). Prior to joining USC\, Zhang taught at the University o f Hong Kong\, NYU School of Law\, and King’s College London. Earlier in her career\, Zhang practiced law for six years in Asia\, the United States\, a nd Europe. Zhang received her LLB from Peking University and her LLM\, JD\, and JSD from the University of Chicago Law School.
A light lunch wil l be served. Please register here.
A Harvard ID is required in order to enter Harvard Law Scho ol buildings. If you have questions\, please contact eals@law.harvard.edu i n advance of the event.
Co-sponsored by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
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