Yunnan's Foreign Trade Competitiveness Study

There are some contacts and differences between the concept of comparative advantage and competitive advantage. Comparative advantage (including traditional comparative advantage concept, comparative advantage concept involved in the new trade theory, potter's competitive advantage concept) means that the economic subject could obtain potential possibility of comparative benefits, while competitive advantage means that the economic subject can continuously gain more power and ability than comparative advantage through foreign trade activities. It reflects a probability that the economic subject can obtain comparative benefits. Comparative advantage is playing a more important role in the economic development of a country from which we can see the increasing importance of foreign trade. However, the areas with comparative advantage can not necessarily obtain comparative benefits, if we want to obtain comparative benefits continuously, comparative advantage will have to be transferred into competitive advantage. In order to fully utilitize the role that international trade is the powerful engine of the world's economic growth, it is necessary to study how to transfer comparative advantage into competitive advantage; consequently, a far-sighted and original theory is imperative.The essay is to study the trade competitiveness of Yunnan from the angle of empirical analysis of comparative advantages and competitive advantage. The results show that the level of economic development of Yunnan province is at developing stage and the structure characteristics of export products is: From competitive advantage and comparative advantage's perspective, resource-intensive products are better than labor-intensive products, labor-intensive products are better than capital and technology ones. Yunnan province's export products show that foreign trade competitiveness is based on comparative advantage of resources intensive, and the comparative advantage is static, endowments, low levels. This comparative advantage can't necessarily obtain comparative advantage.This essay puts forward a two-stage theory about how to transfer comparative advantage into competitive advantage. The first stage: from the current static comparative advantage into dynamic one, namely,the use, creation and promotion of the comparative advantage, the first stage is often reflected by the form of new comparative advantage industry or the further technology of former comparative advantage industry. The second stage will transfer the dynamic advantage into competitive advantage, which requires the government to provide clear property rights system guarantee.