A cluster-based industrial development policy for low-income countries

The need to construct an effective strategy for industrial development in low-income countries has been largely ignored by development economists because industrial policies have failed in many developing countries. This does not imply, however, that industrial development cannot be promoted. This paper attempts to synthesize the conventional wisdom in development economics with recent advancements in various fields of economics (such as theories of endogenous growth and agglomeration economies) to provide a useful framework to design a strategy for industrial development, which consists of investments in managerial human capital followed by the provision of credit and the construction of industrial zones.Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Access to Finance,Political Economy

Productivity Effects of TVE Privatization: The Case Study of Garment and Metal Casting Enterprises in the Greater Yangtze River Region

While it is by now well known that the privatization of township- and village-run enterprises (TVREs) has been rapidly and widely taking place in China, it is much less known whether and to what extent privatization has improved resource allocation and productivity. As a first step toward the fuller understanding of the effect of privatization, this study undertakes case studies of garment and casting enterprises in the Greater Yantgze River Region, where TVREs led miraculous economic growth in the 1980s. Our empirical results indicate that productivity was significantly enhanced by the recent privatization with time lag of a few years.

Introduction

Cluster-Based Industrial Development : A Comparative Study of Asia and Africa1-11Tetsushi Sonobe and Keijiro Otsuka, "Cluster-Based Industrial Development : A Comparative Study of Asia and Africa", 2011, Palgrave Macmillan UK, reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacmillanThis extract is taken from the author\u27s original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/jp/book/978023028018

Introduction

Cluster-Based Industrial Development : An East Asian Model1-21Tetsushi Sonobe and Keijiro Otsuka, "Cluster-Based Industrial Development : An East Asian Model", 2006, Palgrave Macmillan UK, reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacmillanThis extract is taken from the author\u27s original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/jp/book/978023000483

Introduction

Cluster-Based Industrial Development : KAIZEN Management for MSE Growth in Developing Countries1-14Tetsushi Sonobe and Keijiro Otsuka, "Cluster-Based Industrial Development : KAIZEN Management for MSE Growth in Developing Countries", 2014, Palgrave Macmillan UK, reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacmillanThis extract is taken from the author\u27s original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/jp/book/978113738469

Cluster-Based MSE Development: The Role of Kaizen Training

It has been increasingly recognized that entrepreneurship holds the key to industrial development in developing countries [World Bank (2012)]. Indeed, a significant number of studies find that productivity and profitability vary greatly across enterprises even in the same industry in the same country, and that a large part of the variation can be accounted for by the difference in management practices1Identifying and supporting high-potential entrepreneurs may be the key to the success of industrial development. Entrepreneurship is the capacity to introduce new ideas into practice and to manage enterprise operations efficiently. Innovation here does not necessarily mean scientific discovery or engineering invention but the Schumpeterian creation of a new combination of production resources and new ideas to increase profits. In the context of developing economies, innovation includes borrowing technology or learning from abroad. The first introduction of products and production processes from developed countries into a developing country and the first adoption of management practices that may be common in developed countries but are novel in developing countries are considered to be innovations

Virtual Incubation in Industrial Clusters: A Case Study in Pakistan

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How can micro and small enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa become more productive? the impacts of experimental basic managerial training

The vast majority of micro and small enterprises in developing countries are located in industrial clusters, and the majority of such clusters have yet to see their growth take off. The performance of micro and small enterprise clusters is especially low in Sub-Saharan Africa. While existing studies often attribute the poor performance to factors outside firms, problems within firms are seldom scrutinized. Entrepreneurs in these clusters are unfamiliar with standard business practices. Based on a randomized experiment in Ghana, this study demonstrates that basic-level management training improves business practices and performance, although the extent of improvement varies considerably among entrepreneurs.Labor Policies,Primary Education,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Education For All,E-Business

Human capital, cluster formation, and international relocation: the case of the garment industry in Japan, 1968–98

This article examines the changing roles of human capital in the process of the formation of industrial clusters, changes in marketing channels, and the relocation of the industrial base to less developed areas and abroad, based on a case study of a garment cluster in postwar Japan. We found, among other things, that experience as local traders played a major role in the cluster formation. However, formal schooling assumes greater importance in later stages, when direct transactions with large customers replaced transactions with local merchants, and the international relocation of the production base became a major management issue.This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in [Journal of Economic Geography] following peer review. The version of record [Journal of Economic Geography (2003) 3 (1): 37-56] is available online at: http://joeg.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/1/37.http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/sonobe_tetsushi/http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/otsuka_keijiro