Social and Cultural Dimensions of Market Expansion

We have identified three dimensions of market expansion: the growth of market oriented production and trade, internal and external market integration and the creation of virtual markets. These three processes can occur side by side and are connected with social and cultural change.markets culture market expansion

Knowledge hubs and knowledge clusters: Designing a knowledge architecture for development.

With globalisation and knowledge-based production, firms may cooperate on a global scale, outsource parts of their administrative or productive units and negate location altogether. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms, going back to the classical work by Alfred Weber (1868-1958) and Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), who emphasized the microeconomic benefits of industrial collocation. This paper will argue against this view and show why the growth of knowledge societies will rather increase than decrease the relevance of location by creating knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs. A knowledge cluster is a local innovation system organized around universities, research institutions and firms which successfully drive innovations and create new industries. Knowledge hubs are localities with high internal and external networking and knowledge sharing capabilities. Both form a new knowledge architecture within an epistemic landscape of knowledge creation and dissemination, structured by knowledge gaps and areas of low knowledge intensity. The paper will focus on the internal dynamics of knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs and show why clustering takes place despite globalisation and the rapid growth of ICT. The basic argument that firms and their delivery chains attempt to reduce transport (transaction) costs by choosing the same location is still valid for most industrial economies, but knowledge hubs have different dynamics relating to externalities produced from knowledge sharing and research and development outputs. The paper draws on empirical data derived from ongoing research in the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University and in the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, supported by the German Aeronautics and Space Agency (DLR).

Knowledge Clusters and Knowledge Hubs: Designing Epistemic Landscapes for Development

With globalization and knowledge-based production, firms may cooperate on a global scale, outsource parts of their administrative or productive units and negate location altogether. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms, going back to the classical work by Alfred Weber and Alfred Marshall, who emphasized the microeconomic benefits of industrial collocation. This paper will argue against this view and show why the growth of knowledge societies will rather increase than decrease the relevance of location by creating knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs, due to sharing of tacit knowledge and research and development outputs. Designing epistemic landscapes of knowledge clusters and hubs is, therefore, proposed as a viable development policy.knowledge governance; knowledge cluster; knowledge hub; epistemic landscape; development

The strategic importance of the Straits of Malacca for world trade and regional development

The Straits of Malacca are of strategic importance for world trade and regional development. They are vulnerable to social, political and natural disasters, but also bear great opportunities for economic and social development. Most of European trade with China and Japan is shipped through the Straits of Malacca. Most of the energy requirements of Japan depend on oil shipments from the golf states through the Straits of Malacca. The Straits have for centuries connected the Indian subcontinent with East and Southeast Asia as well as Europe with China as an alternative to the Northern 'Silk Road'. The states bordering the Straits, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore form the core of the ASEAN region, one of the growth poles of the developing world. The areas bordering the Straits are themselves rich in natural resources from fisheries, to mangrove swamps and rain forests, from tin mining to gas and oil fields, but also beset by problems of tidal destruction (Tsunami), pollution through shipping and industries. The Straits are beset by problems of poverty, cross straits illegal migration and depletion of its natural resources. The very political stability of the Straits region is at stake through the civil war in Northern Sumatra (Aceh), unrest in Riau and South Thailand as well as widespread piracy. The growth potential is enormous and is partly realized in the SIJORI growth triangle of Singapore, Johore (Malaysia) and Riau (Indonesia); in the industrial growth of the Western part of Malaysia bordering the Straits; the industrial area around Penang (Malaysia) and the international tourism development on the islands of Langkawi (Malaysia) and Phuket (Thailand)

Knowledge is power: Experts as a strategic group

The theory of strategic groups assumes that strategic groups are built when new resources become available as a result of social change. This paper examines the extent to which the process of globalization creates new chances for the acquisition of resources, which also leads to the creation of global strategic groups. Knowledge is identified as one of such strategic resources that makes it possible for strategic groups to be formed. This paper attempts to prove how experts, in particular development experts, form such a strategic group which applies knowledge gained from experience and action strategies to obtain resources for themselves and for their projects.Die Theorie strategischer Gruppen geht davon aus, dass sich strategische Gruppen bilden, wenn neue Ressourcen infolge sozialen Wandels verfügbar werden. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie weit Globalisierungsprozesse neue Aneignungschancen schaffen, die zur Bildung globaler strategischer Gruppen führen. 'Wissen' wird als eine solche strategische Ressource identifiziert, die eine strategischen Gruppenformation ermöglicht. Es wird versucht nachzuweisen, wie sich Experten, insbes. Entwicklungsexperten als eine solche strategische Gruppe formiert, die Erfahrungswissen und Handlungsstrategien einsetzen, um Ressourcen für sich und ihre Projekte zu gewinnen

Closing the digital divide: Southeast Asia's path towards a knowledge society

The production, dissemination and utilisation of knowledge are essential for development and the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) is a precondition for developing a knowledge society. Countries, regions and populations are, however, divided, in terms of access to ICT. Socio-economic indicators on Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands and Germany are used to show that the existing global digital divide and the knowledge gap are widening between developing countries and the industrial countries and within individual nations. Some Southeast Asian countries have embarked on an ambitious plan to close the digital divide and to use knowledge as a base for economic development, by-passing earlier stages of industrialisation. Some commentators have, in contrast, asserted that it is doubtful that closing the digital divide will let developing countries leapfrog to higher levels of development as the knowledge economy will deepen the digital divide between regions and populations and actually expand the gap between rich and poor. The paper discusses this controversy by arguing that global knowledge has to be localized and local knowledge utilized in developing a knowledge society. If it seems unlikely that the digital gap between ASEAN and developed countries will be closed completely at least narrowing the gap at the lower end should be targeted. Statistical data on the global absorption of locally produced knowledge are used to measure the way towards a knowledge society. Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have relatively high local social science output, whereas Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos have low output rates. We diagnose four different paths from 1970 to 2000: Indonesia shows a stable high level of dependence, Malaysia and the Philippines are increasing local output but also increasing dependence, whereas Singapore is increasing output with decreasing dependence on global social science knowledge

Local knowledge as strategic resource: Fishery in the seasonal floodplains of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Water in the Mekong Delta is omnipresent and plays a crucial role for the rural population depending on that resource in the pursuit of diverse livelihood activities. This article focuses on the social interaction of paddy farmers and landless people during the annual flood season from a local knowledge perspective. It will be argued that local knowledge turns into a strategic resource in the context of growing competition for decreasing natural water products. Knowledge is not like 'light' hence the strategic moment as well as the tacit component of local knowledge makes its sharing a technically limited form of interaction which is based on a delicate process of trust-building. The current transformation process of agricultural modernization as pushed forward in the Mekong Delta will probably aggravate livelihood insecurities in the future. Local knowledge as adaptive asset in this process of changing society-water relationships will be analyzed

Labour market segmentation in West Sumatra

Es wird allgemein angenommen, daß Lohnarbeit die effektivste und produktivste Form der Arbeit ist. Es gibt Anzeichen dafür, daß die Zunahme der Lohnarbeit in Indonesien von einer Arbeitsmarktsegmentierung begleitet wird. Der Autor berichtet in der vorliegenden Studie über eine empirische Untersuchung der Arbeitsmarktsegmentierung in West-Sumatra aufgrund geschlechtsspezifischer, ethnischer, verwandtschaftlicher und regionaler Faktoren. Es wurden strukturierte Interviews mit 506 Personen und Intensivinterviews mit 30 Personen durchgeführt. Es wird festgestellt, daß die Segmentierung vor allem auf die Geschlechtszugehörigkeit und die Region zurückzuführen ist, weniger auf ethnische Faktoren. Die Segmentierung führt zu großen Lohnunterschieden. Die Bildung beeinflußt ebenfalls die Höhe der Löhne, was ebenfalls zur Segmentierung beiträgt. (psz