Abstract: This study is determined to explore the technological diversification phenomenon through technology licensing-ins pertaining to Chinese indigenous firms. Various data sources are used in the empirical analyses of 181 Chinese home-grown firms which are engaged in technology licensing-in activities during 2000-2005, i.e. the registered records of patent technology licensing agreements and patent applications by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China, and the annual survey of all Large- and Medium-scale companies by the National Bureau of Statistics. Through a Tobit model in the statistic analyses, it has been found that: (1) technology licensing-ins across a wider technology domain negatively impact licensee firms' subsequent technological diversification development; (2) technology licensing-ins across a longer geography distance, i.e. from advanced economies positively influence licensee firms' subsequent technological diversification development; (3) licensed-in technologies from a relative longer temporal distance exhibit a reverse "U" relationship with licensee firms' subsequent technological diversification development.

Key words: technological diversification, technology licensing, technology search, innovation, patent