Technology Support for Small Industries in Developing Countries: From 'Supply-Push' to 'Eightfold-C: '

The paper is a review of approaches towards technology support for small-scale manufacturing enterprises in developing countries since the 1970s. Early programmes tended to suffer from a number of weaknesses, emanating from inadequate conceptualisation of small firm' competitiveness and the role of the small-scale sector in industrial development, as well as from lack of practical experience with project implementation. However, in recent years important advancements have been made on all these fronts. The paper discusses eight characteristics of recent technology assistance programmes that have tended to be associated with project success. Broadly, successful projects are those that embrace the notion that durable competitiveness of small producers in a competitive economic environment requires that they develop internal capabilities to effectively asssimilate, use, and adapt product and process technologies on an ongoing basis. Key words: technology support, small-scale enterprises, technological capability, competitiveness, assistance projects, industrialisation.

Technology Development in Transition - The Case of Hungarian Industry -

The reform of 1989 exposed Hungarian industry to foreign competition and confronted it to the loss of the vast and undemanding COMECON market, the withdrawal of public support and the need for privatisation. Based on twenty-four interviews in pharmaceutical, electronics, automotive and textile companies, this paper gives insight into the efforts made by Hungarian industry to upgrade its technology in response to these pressures. The patterns found reflect the shift away from the old strategy of autarchic imitation of western technology based on own research and development towards catch-up through acquisition of western product and process know-how. The firms' modernisation activities were heavily driven by foreign investment and financial support from public agencies, but there are drawbacks associated with both, especially foreign investment which has in some cases contributed to the erosion of indigenous research capability. Science and technology institutions played an important role in the upgrading of industrial technology before the reform, but linkages with industry have eroded in the 1990s as a result of the drastic decline in state funding for science and technology and the financial crisis in industry. Financial support from the European Union for science and technology in the sample firms is reviewed and a number of suggestions are made for its improvement, so as to better reflect Hungary's current needs in the context of its increasing integration with the European Union.

Technology Support for Small Industries in Developing Countries: A Review of Concepts and Project Practices

technology support, small-scale industry, technological capability, learning, competitiveness, assistance projects, industrialisation

Remedial Education for Black Children in Rural South Africa: An Exploration of Success Using Evolutionary Innovation Theory

remedial, South Africa, rural

A sub-sector approach to cost-benefit analysis: Small-scale sisal processing in Tanzania

project appraisal; cost-benefit analysis, sisal decorticating technology,rural innovations

Why People Contribute Voluntarily to Innovation: Insights from South Africa 's Siyabuswa Educational Improvement & Development Trust

Innovation, South Africa

What drives innovativeness in industrial clusters? Transcending the debate

Industrial clusters, Regional agglomerations, Technological learning

Innovation for the base of the pyramid: Critical perspectives from development studies on heterogeneity and participation

This article criticises current BoP approaches for under-appreciating two issues that play vital roles in projects targeting the poor at the BoP: heterogeneity among the poor, and the intricacies of participatory partnerships between TNCs, the non-profit sector (NGOs) and local poor communities in the global south. Our main contention is that the extant BoP literature has a naive view of what working with the poor really involves, which grossly underestimates adverse power relationships and disregards the hierarchies between the poor and outsiders who administer development interventions. To unpack the hidden complexities associated with heterogeneity and partnership dynamics, we draw on extensive knowledge from the field of development studies, which has accumulated key insights about working in and with poorer communities over several decades.innovation and development, participation, poverty alleviation, TNCs