Stockholm, Jan 13 (IANS): Indian and Chinese companies have become better in developing new complex products, a Swedish researcher says.

Monica Plechero has questioned the notion that Indian and Chinese companies compete with their Western counterparts only through lower wages and cheap imitations.

"It is still the case that both Indian and Chinese companies imitate others but they have also become better at developing new complex products", said Plechero from Lund University, Sweden.

Plechero has studied Indian and Chinese companies in the automotive, information and communication technologies and green bio-tech industries as part of her doctoral thesis.

But the process has not been the same in both countries, a Lund University statement quoted her as saying.

China mainly develops products for the domestic market. In India, the international market is used as a springboard in product development, she said.

"(But) the Chinese market is larger and more mature," said Plechero.

In just a few years, the Chinese and Indian share of the world's research and development centres has risen from eight to 18 percent.

Plechero claims that India and China invest more than the West in organisational innovation or the implementation of a company structure that creates a favourable climate for new inventions.

But what is the West to do then when it can neither compete on low wages or on the best innovation capacity?

"I think we need to become better at utilising others' knowledge, just as is done in China and India," she said.

"Of course, you have to specialise and find your own niche. Successful European companies are far too eager to keep their trade secrets to themselves," she said.