The Challenges of Technology and Economic Catch-up in Emerging Economies

This book synthesizes and interprets existing knowledge on technology upgrading failures as well as lessons from successes and failures in order to better understand the challenges of technology upgrading in emerging economies. The objective is to bring together in one volume diverse evidence regarding three major dimensions of technology upgrading: paths of technology upgrading, structural changes in the nature of technology upgrading, and the issues of technology transfer and technology upgrading. The knowledge of these three dimensions is being synthesized at the firm, sector, and macro levels across different countries and world macro-regions. Compared to the old and new challenges and uncertainties facing emerging economies, our understanding of the technology upgrading is sparse, unsystematic, and scattered. While our understanding of these issues from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively more systematized, the changes that took place during the globalization and proliferation of GVCs, the effects of the post-2008 events, and the effects of the current COVID-19 and geopolitical struggles on technology upgrading have not been explored and compared synthetically. Moreover, the recent growth slowdown in many emerging economies, often known as a middle-income trap, has reinforced the importance of understanding the technology upgrading challenges of catching-up economies. We believe that the time is ripe for “taking stock of the area” in order to systematize and evaluate the existing knowledge on processes of technology upgrading of emerging economies at the firm, sector, and international levels and to make further inroads in research on this issue. This volume aims to significantly contribute towards this end

Entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacity, market orientation and technological innovation capabalities of SMEs in Kurdistan, Iraq

Innovation capabilities have become an important component for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial sector to cope with intense competition and to meet customers’ needs. Due to inconsistency in the findings of previous studies on the antecedent factors that may influence these capabilities, this study intended to empirically examine the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacity, market orientation, and technological innovation capabilities among the industrial SMEs in an unstable environment, and also to determine whether market orientation has a mediating role in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacity, and technological innovation capabilities . This study adopted the Resource-Based Theory as an underpinning theory for its assumptions and to develop its model. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the industrial SMEs owners in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. A total of 432 innovative enterprises were involved in this study, making an overall 63.9% response rate. This study utilized the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to establish the validity and reliability of the measurement model and to test the relationships. The outcomes of this study show that both absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial orientation have significant influences on technological innovation capabilities. Furthermore, the results indicate that market orientation has a partial mediating role in the nexus between absorptive capacity and technological innovation capabilities, but it has not been found to mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and technological innovation capabilities. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions for academics and professionals. The limitations of the study have been addressed and some valuable suggestions for future research work are offered

The Challenges of Technology and Economic Catch-up in Emerging Economies

This book synthesizes and interprets existing knowledge on technology upgrading failures as well as lessons from successes and failures in order to better understand the challenges of technology upgrading in emerging economies. The objective is to bring together in one volume diverse evidence regarding three major dimensions of technology upgrading: paths of technology upgrading, structural changes in the nature of technology upgrading, and the issues of technology transfer and technology upgrading. The knowledge of these three dimensions is being synthesized at the firm, sector, and macro levels across different countries and world macro-regions. Compared to the old and new challenges and uncertainties facing emerging economies, our understanding of the technology upgrading is sparse, unsystematic, and scattered. While our understanding of these issues from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively more systematized, the changes that took place during the globalization and proliferation of GVCs, the effects of the post-2008 events, and the effects of the current COVID-19 and geopolitical struggles on technology upgrading have not been explored and compared synthetically. Moreover, the recent growth slowdown in many emerging economies, often known as a middle-income trap, has reinforced the importance of understanding the technology upgrading challenges of catching-up economies. We believe that the time is ripe for “taking stock of the area” in order to systematize and evaluate the existing knowledge on processes of technology upgrading of emerging economies at the firm, sector, and international levels and to make further inroads in research on this issue. This volume aims to significantly contribute towards this end

How Nations Learn

Authored by eminent scholars, the volume aims to generate interest and debate among policymakers, practitioners, and researchers on the complexity of learning and catch-up, particularly for twenty-first century late-late developers. The volume explores technological learning at the firm level, policy learning by the state, and the cumulative and multifaceted nature of the learning process, which encompasses learning by doing, by experiment, emulation, innovation, and leapfrogging. Why is catch-up rare? And why have some nations succeeded while others failed? What are the prospects for successful learning and catch-up in the twenty-first century? These are pertinent questions that require further research and in-depth analysis. The World Bank estimates that out of the 101 middle-income economies in 1960, only thirteen became high income by 2008. This volume examines how nations learn by reviewing key structural and contingent factors that contribute to dynamic learning and catch-up. Rejecting both the one-size-fits-all approach and the agnosticism that all nations are unique and different, the volume uses historical as well as firm-level, industry-level, and country-level evidence and experiences to identify the sources and drivers of successful learning and catch-up and the lessons for late-latecomer countries. Building on the latecomer-advantage perspective, the volume shows that what is critical for dynamic learning and catch-up is not learning per se but the intensity of learning, robust industrial policies, and the pace and direction of learning. Equally important are the passion to learn, long-term strategic vision, and understanding the context in which successful learning occurs

Regional expansion of emerging market SMEs: the roles of domestic market environmental uncertainty and international alliance partner diversity

This study develops and tests a framework of the effect of domestic market environmental uncertainty on international alliance partner diversity (IAPD) and the effect of IAPD on small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) regional expansion. Leveraging primary data from a sample of 232 Pakistani SMEs, the findings indicate that domestic market dynamism and technological dynamism drive SMEs to engage in IAPD. The analysis further reveals that IAPD improves SMEs’ regional expansion, and particularly so at higher levels of cross-cultural knowledge absorption. The research and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Motives and location choice of OFDI: the case of China

The motives and location choice of OFDI: the case of ChinaThis research investigates the location choice of Chinese companies' outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). It addresses the question of why companies with similar motivations will invest in different types of locations. In more details, how a company's motivation affects their location for OFDI, and what it is about some Chinese companies that allows them to invest in certain countries. It also seeks to examine the extent to which classical theories can explain the OFDI from emerging markets in the case of China.Chinese official data has certain flaws, such as low quality at firm level and the omission of some important investments due to the data collection methods. Thus this research uses data collected from a private survey. Logistic regression analysis was applied to a sample of 129 companies, and the following conclusions made:Firstly, a company's investment motivation is the determining factor for their investment. Chinese MNEs motivated to acquire created assets, such as brand name, technology and managerial expertise are more likely to invest in developed countries rather than less developed countries. There is no clear evidence of efficiency seeking as a motivation for Chinese companies, but natural resource seeking FDIs are considerable from China.Meanwhile, this research finds evidence of capital seeking FDI. As a result of the Chinese government's capital control policy, some Chinese companies invest overseas to access the host countries' stock market. This kind of investment is generally performed using some unconventional method, such as 'reverse takeover' or 'round-tripping'.Secondly, the Chinese Government plays an important role in Chinese OFDI. The Government's foreign policy may influence a company's investment decision making. E.g. companies with a stronger relationship with the Government are more likely to invest in developed countries rather than Hong KongThis research also finds evidence that a closer government relationship enhances companies' competitive advantages when performing the investment. This research suggests that a strong connection with the Government acts as an ownership advantage in the case of Chinese firms.Thirdly, Internalisation of Internationalisation (i2) is suggested and developed in this research. This term encapsulates the systematic knowledge transfer that is hypothesised as occurring during the operation of a joint venture or other form of alliance with foreign investors in China. It is proposed that this knowledge transfer from foreign firms to the domestic company enables Chinese companies to acquire knowledge of international operation even before engaging with the overseas market. This research finds that companies with exposure to i2 are better prepared and therefore more likely to undertake OFDI. The thesis concludes that previous participation in international business collaboration increases the probability of OFDI by these Chinese firms.This research finds that classical OFDI theories are still reliable in explaining the emerging market OFDI in the case of China. However, IB theories should also draw more attention to the fact that asset augmenting can play a major role in this investment environment. Moreover, some new concepts such as capital seeking and i2 should be added into the theoretical framework

Developing a framework for the modernisation of passenger railway maintenance depots in developing countries

Industrial Engineerin

Three Essays on Global Linkages for Innovation

Globalization is an important theme in a broad set of conversations, from everyday talks to political and academic debates, both in positive and also negative terms. But what are the positive implications of globalization for the economic development of the countries? Do the effects of globalization on innovation differ between developed and developing economies? This PhD dissertation aims to explore these questions by identifying under which conditions globalization – conceived as a process fostering knowledge flows at a global scale – has played an important role in the innovation process. The contribution of this dissertation is to the field of geography of innovation. Despite recent research on the spatial dimension of sources of innovation, this field still remains focused on the impact of local and global linkages, for firms in the advanced economies. This thesis contributes to this matter, by extending the discussion also to the organizational learning of firms from emerging economies. Theoretically, it builds on contributions from innovation studies, economic geography and international business. Empirically, the focus is on firm level data gathered from emerging economies (BRICS) as well as several European countries. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter followed by a literature review on previous works related to spatial aspects of knowledge sourcing for learning and innovation, three essays at different stages of publication, and finally conclusions. Contextualizing the searching behaviour and the engagement in global collaborations is at the core of all three papers. By using firm level data and conducting comparative studies between advanced (North) and emerging economies (South), the first two papers analyse the impact of global knowledge flows for novelty of innovation. The third paper explores the impact of high level of local embeddedness on firm’s engagement in global sourcing of knowledge; this paper relies on data from Indian firms The first paper investigates the effects of local and global innovation collaborations on the degree of novelty in innovations of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector by considering the country in which these firms are located. The findings of this study show that global linkages do indeed impact on the degree of novelty of innovation. However, this impact is highly positive on the innovativeness of Scandinavian firms, whereas for the Indian SMEs, the regional linkages matter most. The second paper explores the role played by active collaboration with users on the degree of novelty of innovation by focusing on the location of both users and producers. The results indicate that collaborating with international users is positively related to higher degrees of novelty. Furthermore, firms in low- and middle-income countries benefit more from South- South user collaboration than from South-North collaboration. The third paper addresses the relation between high level of local embeddedness and engagement in global linkages for innovations -as a pre-requisite for catching-up- by comparing the engagement of group-affiliated firms, that are expected to present higher degree of internal collaboration, with standalone firms. The results indicate that affiliation to a business group also increases the likelihood of engagement in global linkages for innovation