Greening of supply chain in developing countries: Diffusion of lead (Pb)-free soldering in ICT manufacturers in China

The paper examines the diffusion of lead-free soldering in ICT manufacturers in China as response to EU's RoHS directives, in order to investigate the global-local networks linking the lead market with the producers in developing countries. The result shows rapid diffusion of the technological change triggered by such regulation among Chinese firms. The diffusion however occurs at varied rates in different regions, depending on their export orientation. The logistic regression model shows that, other than firm attributes, such as the position in the product chains and the firm-level environmental performance, two geographical factors, i.e., target markets and local cluster effects, are also significant in influencing firm's technological choices, while capital sources is less important.

► How can environmental regulations in developed countries affect technological change in developing countries? ► This paper examines the diffusion of lead-free soldering in electronics producers in China triggered by EU's RoHS directive. ► Our model shows that both 'target market' and 'local cluster effects' are significant for firm's technological choice.