An authoritative examination of how small firms in developing countries acquire technological capability - the knowledge and skills required to operate technology effectively and to adapt it to local conditions. It fills a gap in the established literature on technological capability, which has neglected the small-scale sector in spite of the important role it plays in employment generation. The author develops a methodology for a quantitative assessment of the learning process, using case material from the small-scale capital goods sector in Pakistan's Punjab Province.

Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.

In today's knowledge-driven world, innovation and innovation systems have become key policy issues. However, the extent of knowledge that is available on these concepts in less developed countries is still relatively low. Much of what we know about innovation theory and systems has come from the developed countries and reflects their world view. This apparent knowledge deficit has major implications for less developed countries. Innovation Systems and Capabilities in Developing Regions adds to the growing body of knowledge on developing countries. The theoretical and empirical case studies presented here advance the notion that, while developing countries may not engage in frontier research, a critical knowledge base upon which these countries compete for global markets is emerging. There is evidence that state and non-state actors are increasingly emphasising policies that sit within the framework of national innovation systems. This book illuminates this shift in policy competence at national levels. The contributions in this volume highlight the need for thorough understanding of the role of diffusion-based innovation linked to technology transfer and acquisition. They also provide empirical evidence on the drivers, dynamics and impact of such innovation in developing economies and the constraints that apply. Contributors also document the application of the innovation system approach in developing countries as well as the build-up and diffusion of technological capabilities within innovation systems. Academics, higher level students, policy makers and practitioners involved with innovation and the economics of technical change, particularly in developing countries, will find this a valuable book.

This book offers an analysis of how firms manage to reconfigure their pool of resources, to deal with the turbulent environments in which they are embedded, thus tackling the issue of how dynamic capabilities must be defined and conceptualized.

Globalization and structural adjustment offer many opportunities for export orientated industrialization in developing economies. As a group, competitiveness in the developing countries has improved, but, while East Asian economies have had rapid export growth and technological upgrades, South Asian and African economies have lagged behind. Old structures, institutions, behavioural patterns and public policies are ill-adapted to deal with the challenges posed by technological change and economic liberalization. Consequently there is an urgent need for change in government and private sector attitudes and strategies. This volume seeks to generalise the lessons across developing country and enterprise cases, and sheds light on which trade and industrial strategies and instruments work best, and which do not work, in relation to manufacturing competitiveness.

The central aim of The Industrial Experience of Tanzania is to explain why the Tanzanian manufacturing sector experienced a long period of stagnation after an initial phase of rapid industrial growth. Tanzania has been an extreme case with a high level of state intervention, but the contributors show that there are lessons to be learnt here for African economies in general. The analysis includes previously unpublished data, and presents important conceptual and methodological advances.

The rise of innovative firms in emerging market economies is an increasingly topical issue. However, the literature has lagged behind in helping us understand this phenomenon. Addressing this gap, the book draws on a variety of firm-level experiences across a range of key countries, sectors, and institutional contexts. Despite the obvious differences, the book finds a commonality in these experiences: they have all been influenced by shifts in the institutional, technological, and policy environment, in particular by the opening up of emerging market economies over the past three decades, and the consequent increase in international business interactions. Across the different countries surveyed in Asia and Latin America, the book argues that firm level innovation has been strongly influenced by capabilities that had previously been built up in a relatively closed environment. However, in the current more open environment, it is suggested that innovation among firms also reflects differences in these national historical contexts, as well as in the different forms of interaction with international business that have subsequently emerged. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and graduate students in international business and technology management.

The innovation systems (IS) approach emerged as a theoretical framework in the industrialized world in the mid-1990s to explain innovation and growth in the developed world. This Handbook is the first attempt to adapt the IS approach to developing countries from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint. The Handbook brings eminent scholars in economics, innovation and development studies together with promising young researchers to review the literature and push theoretical boundaries. They critically review the IS approach and its adequacy for developing countries, discuss the relationship between IS and development, and address the question of how it should be adapted to the realities of developing nations. Spanning national, sectoral and regional innovation systems across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and written by the world s leading scholars within the field, this comprehensive Handbook will strongly appeal to academics, researchers and students with an interest in innovation and technology in developing countries.

The literature on innovation in Africa is rapidly expanding, and a recurring thread in the emergent literature is the pervasiveness of systemic weaknesses that inhibit the innovation process. Despite these, firms are able to innovate in Africa. It is then logical to ask: how do African firms manage to overcome the prevalent constraints and learn to innovate? This book directly tackles this question, with a view to improving our understanding of the innovation landscape in Africa. The book brings together some of the latest innovation research from across the African continent, ranging from Tanzania and Ethiopia in the east to Nigeria in the west. The chapters included in the collection adopt different but complementary theoretical and methodological approaches to address a rich mix of interrelated issues. These issues include the factors that enhance or inhibit innovation in African firms, the sources of (knowledge/information for) innovation, policy options for overcoming constraints and facilitating firm-level innovation, the nature and roles of brokers and intermediaries in dealing with innovation constraints and in facilitating the innovation process and the role of interactive learning and acquisition of embodied technology in the innovation process. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation and Development.