Diffusion of Practice: The Sino-German Technical Standardization Partnership

• In Event: Transnational Private Governance Under Stress: The Case of Standardization

Abstract

At a time of deepening divisions between China and Global North countries, Germany and China are swimming against the tide by cooperating closely in the highly sensitive area of high-tech standardization. Sino-German cooperation on technical standardization in the domain of smart manufacturing was established in 2015, and it ranges from joint work by technical standard experts to a bilateral coordination of strategies for navigating increasingly politicized standardization processes within the ISO. In this paper, we are employing a “communities of practice” (CoP) approach to technical standard-setting to illuminate the reasons behind this puzzling partnership. Based on interviews with participants and close observers of the partnership conducted between 2019 and 2021, we argue that a diffusion of practice logic underpins China’s cooperation with Germany. Despite the competitiveness of China’s high-tech sectors, this latecomer faces both formal and informal barriers to entry in global standardization processes. By partnering with Germany, one of the globe’s leading standards powers, China hopes to both cultivate a powerful ally in an increasingly contentious arena and also master the subtleties of standardization practice by working closely with an insider. For their part, German participants hope that the integration of China to standardization CoPs will lead to an acceptance of established global standard-setting processes. The diffusion of standardization know-how is viewed as consistent with Germany’s interest as a status quo standards power and vital to supporting German industry in China.

Authors

• Daniel Fuchs, Humboldt University of Berlin

• Sarah Eaton, Humboldt University Berlin