Protective Liberalization : the state and the Mexican petrochemical industry 1958-2000

This thesis follows and analyses the involvement of both social actors and the state in the industrial transformation of Mexico. While these actors have been key associates in the development of the Mexican economy for decades, with the 1982 debt crisis, and especially after the promotion of a structural reform in 1986, the patterns of their involvement changed. However, this change was more limited than expected, and the state did not abandon its participation in some key industrial sectors. This thesis will demonstrate that the role of the state remained important during the process of change towards an Export-Oriented developmental paradigm, although the state continued to participate in fashioning social relations, it did so in new ways that can be termed “protective liberalization.”Cette thèse évalue et analyse la participation des acteurs sociaux et de l'État dans la transformation industrielle du Mexique. Alors que durant plusieurs décennies ces acteurs on été des partenaires stratégiques dans le développement de l’économie mexicaine, avec la crise de la dette de 1982 et spécialement suite à la réforme structurelle de 1986, le modèle de leur participation a changé. Néanmoins, ce changement a été plus limité que prévu et l‘État n‘a pas abandonné sa participation dans certains secteurs industrielles clés. Cette thèse démontre que le rôle de l’État n’a pas perdu de son importance pendant le transfert vers un paradigme du développement orienté vers l’exportation et que même si l ́État a continué à participer dans la structuration des relations sociales, cela c’est fait d’une nouvelle manière que l'on pourrait dénommer “libéralisation protective”

Energy efficiency and GHG emissions: Prospective scenarios for the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry

This study analyses the savings potential of energy consumption and GHG emissions from cost-effective technological improvements in the chemical and petrochemical industry up to 2050. The analysis follows a bottom-up approach; that is, it is based on information at facility level of existing plants with their production characteristics, best available and innovative technologies. The analysis includes 26 basic chemical compounds that cover 75 % of the total energy use (including energy used as feedstock) and more than 90 % of GHG emissions of the chemical sector in 2013. The bottom-up approach includes an annual cost-effectiveness analysis of the uptake of best available and innovative technologies in each facility up to 2050. The projections and assumptions used are in accordance with the reference scenario of the European Commission. In absolute terms, from 2013-2050 the total energy consumption increases by 39.2 % and the GHG emissions' decrease by 14.7 %; these values include the effect (and depend on) a demand increase by 45.6 %. In 2050, without any technological improvement, the GHG emissions and energy consumption would be 36 % and 4 % higher. The minor effect of technological improvements on energy savings can be partly explained by the fact that 73.5 % of the total energy consumed in the manufacturing of the products covered in this study is incorporated in the final products, and most of new technologies have an impact on the direct energy use, but not on the non-energy use.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

An institutional approach to the development of the textile and clothing clusters in China: the case of Zhejiang Province

China has now become the largest producer and exporter of textile and clothing products in the world. The objective of this research is to explore the relationship between the complicated interactive process of institutional change and the development of industrial clusters in China. It focuses on the distinctive institutional factors that have allowed the textile and clothing clusters in China to benefit from globalisation while those in other transitional economies have not done so. The research also aims to make a thorough investigation into how the dynamic change of the public-private interface has influenced the development and upgrading of the textile and clothing clusters in contemporary China-in-transition, with all the political and social implications that the process entails. The research mainly uses the New Institutional Economics Approach (NIE) and gives weight to institutional change through multiple case studies of textile and clothing clusters in Zhejiang province, East China. The micro case studies are effective in illustrating the interaction between institutional change and industrial development. The research argues that the unique institutional factors leading to the rapid development of textile and clothing clusters in China include hybrid ownership, public entrepreneurship and the specialised wholesale market. The research has also shown that the theory of local state corporatism alone fails to explain the great success of textile and clothing clusters in China. The development and upgrading of textile and clothing clusters in China has witnessed extraordinary institutional change through co-evolution between the public sector and the private sector, which can be reflected through the interaction among social networks, entrepreneurship and performance of local government. The flexibility in the public-private interface is one unique endogenous institutional arrangement embedded in the economic system in China. It is a dynamic process of institutional embeddedness, deembeddedness and reembeddedness with a diversity of economic regimes coexisting at different hierarchies of governmen

The Government Role in Creating Innovation Technological Clusters in Developing Countries (The Case of Saudi Arabia)

Many governments around the world are committed to the idea of creating high-tech industries in their territories. Often they do so by imitating other well-recognized models such as the Silicon Valley. This dissertation investigated three countries economic development plans to understand how government policies could support or hinder the establishment of an Innovation Systems in developing countries. This dissertation claims that to create a successful high technological innovation cluster in any area, a successful innovation needs to be existed to support these clusters. This study used a comparative qualitative pragmatic method that implemented both case study and process tracing to unfold the policies that led to create successful innovation systems. Comparing these cases created an understanding of how the success could begeneralized and replicated to the case of Saudi Arabia

Towards sustainable development : a business management perspective on "greening" in the Korean chemical industry

The term, sustainable development, is not new in our society. However, understanding the concept of sustainable development is not without problems. What does the concept mean in business and management? It is observed that ecological issues are neglected by mainstream management academics and practices. Conventional strategic management and organisational study do not include the "green" ecological environment issues as part of business environment. If "green" ecological environment is a part of the business environment, how do decision makers, especially top level managers, perceive green issues in the business environment and how are these perceptions related to strategic management issues? This research focuses on answering the question by studying how top executives in the Korean chemical industry perceive the uncertainty caused by ecological issues and influence the effectiveness of implementation of corporate environmental management based upon Miles and Snow's (1978) strategic typology of corporate responses. The research employs three different methods, the questionnaire, the interview and the case study for data collection. These research methods are used to identify the levels of uncertainty which result from green issues in business environment, and the link between uncertainty and strategic management issues. The findings from this research show that top managers selectively perceive green issues in the business environment. Thus, business organisations seek to create their own environment to match with their strategy rather than be controlled by their environment. The findings support the "strategic choice" view by Child (1972) and Miles and Snow (1978). Selective strategic choice based upon top managers' perceptions produces different types of corporate environmental strategy which range from the reactive to the proactive

The current trends in industrial symbiosis and its potential implementation in Portuguese industrial parks

The negative effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption have driven countries to seek sustainable solutions that promote economic growth decoupled from rising emissions and rising resource consumption. In this context, industrial symbiosis, which consists of a collaborative approach between different entities involving the use of waste and by-products from one company as raw material in another company, can play an important role for sustainable development. With recognized environmental, economic and social benefits, this practice has been applied around the world, both in developed countries and in countries with developing economies. The main objective of this work is to contribute to the increase of the industrial symbiosis in Portugal, providing an analysis of the existing industrial symbiosis and establishing a series of recommendations and best practices to increase the number of synergies and improve those existing in Portugal. To achieve this main objective, other existing and potential cases of industrial symbiosis around the world have been compiled and analyzed in order to characterize the various synergy networks and to study factors that may inhibit or drive the creation and development of industrial symbiosis relationships. The results demonstrate the enormous potential of application of industrial symbiosis in Portugal. However, for the growth of this practice, various political, cultural and economic barriers have to be overcome and various measures have to be implemented.Os efeitos negativos do aumento das emissões de gases com efeito de estufa e do consumo de recursos têm impulsionado os países para a procura de soluções sustentáveis que promovam o crescimento económico dissociado do aumento das emissões e do aumento do consumo de recursos. Neste contexto, a simbiose industrial que consiste numa abordagem colaborativa entre diferentes entidades que envolve o uso de resíduos e subprodutos de uma empresa como matéria-prima em outra empresa, pode desempenhar um papel importante para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Com reconhecidos benefícios a nível ambiental, económico e social, esta prática tem sido aplicada um pouco por todo o mundo, quer em países desenvolvidos quer em países com economias em vias de desenvolvimento. O principal objectivo deste trabalho é contribuir para o aumento da simbiose industrial em Portugal, proporcionando uma análise da simbiose industrial existente e estabelecendo uma série de recomendações e melhores práticas para aumentar o número de sinergias e melhorar as existentes em Portugal. Para a concretização deste objectivo principal, outros casos de simbiose industrial existentes e potenciais em todo o mundo foram compilados e analisados a fim de caracterizar as várias redes de sinergia e estudar os factores que podem inibir ou impulsionar a criação e desenvolvimento das relações de simbiose industrial. Os resultados evidenciam o enorme potencial de aplicação da simbiose industrial em Portugal. Contudo, para o crescimento desta prática, várias barreiras políticas, culturais e económicas têm ainda que ser transpostas e várias medidas têm que ser implementadas

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number