An evaluation of Chinese Wind Turbine Manufacturers using the enterprise niche theory

Abstract

With support from the Chinese government, the Chinese wind power generation industry is experiencing rapid development. The quick growth of the wind power generation industry has promoted the development of the Chinese wind turbine manufacturing industry. Similarly, the quantity and the productivity of the local Chinese Wind Turbine Manufacturers (WTMs) have also undergone a quick and significant expansion. This is resulting in an increase in competition amongst the WTMs in China. Being relatively new, this creates a fertile environment for local Chinese WTMs that is ripe for study and analysis. Based on the niche theory of industrial ecosystem and enterprise, this paper investigates the Chinese wind turbine manufacturing industry, and proposes a wind turbine manufacturing industry ecosystem model and a WTMs' ecological niche evaluation index system (WENEIS). Use is made of a catastrophe theory model evaluation method to evaluate the ecological niche status of the 6 main local Chinese WTMs selected and a spider diagram is established to compare the status of the different enterprises' ecological niche. The proposed WENEIS aids WTMs in finding the competitive advantage and disadvantage factors for their development, as well as providing a valuable reference for the WTMs to improve their business environment and to formulate their competitive strategy in the future.