Stayingcompetitive

The advantage of being a late follower is not forever

In 2016 China made $5.5 trillion worth of mobile payments while the United States made $112 billion. China is far ahead of Western countries in the mobile payment industry mainly because of the advantages of being a late market entrant: China does not have a culture of payment through credit cards, so the country is able to leapfrog directly into the mobile payments market. During China’s period of booming economic growth, similar cases occurred in various sectors such as the manufacturing and service industries, as well as in infrastructure and e-commerce.

China has become the world’s largest manufacturing nation, the largest exporter and the second largest economy. Nonetheless, once there are more advanced alternative technologies available, China may be replaced by today’s emerging markets if it fails to adapt. There are many people in emerging economies that are studying China’s development path in order to surpass it. It is very likely that one or more of these countries already have enough resources and the capability to take advantage of their late-mover status in some sectors. Those helping them might even be innovators from China.

In September 2010, India launched its biometric identification system and issued a 12-digit unique identification number called Aadhaar for residents. It is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative. Beijing-based Eyesmart participated in this biometric identification system and provided key technological support.

India can establish the world’s largest biometric identification system and adopt the most advanced iris recognition technology mainly because the country had no ID verification system before. Now that it has enough resources and the capability to build a national identification system, it chooses to employ the most advanced iris recognition technology. With affordable mobile iris recognition terminals developed in China,