Korea has been at the centre of intense debate concerning the role of government in economic development. Taking an in-depth approach, this book analyses the path of Korea's industrial technology development. In contrast to many previous studies on Korea, the author argues that the role of foreign multinational enterprises has been significant while the government's was surprisingly limited in scope. The author addresses three main questions: * How was Korea able to develop so effectively despite the low inflow of foreign technologies and capital? * What is the role of multinational enterprises in 'teaching' technology to the firms from developing countries? * What has been the influence of public policy on Korea's technology development? The author demonstrates that the key to the Korean electronics industry's spectacular growth has been through its participation in and learning from an inter-firm arrangement called 'original equipment manufacturing' (OEM) arrangement, and a number of firm-level case studies support this argument. This book will be of special interest to scholars of industrial and development economics, innovation and Asian studies. It will also be of use to policymakers responsible for industrial policy development.

What is the influence of software systems on an organization's ability to create knowledge, learn, adapt to change and innovate? While organization, management and innovation theory has primarily focused on the impact of software on measures such as process efficiency and speed, this book argues that integrated systems and digital technologies offer even more fundamental implications for the innovating firm. A series of detailed case studies provides the foundations for a deeper theoretical and empirical understanding of the nature and dynamics of software, knowledge, organization and their complex interactions. The author demonstrates how software induces the radical reconfiguration of organizational knowledge and learning dynamics, including an organization's ability to create, store, transfer and integrate knowledge across heterogeneous organizational boundaries. The book provides a unique perspective on what organizations know and how they use that knowledge to build, sustain and renew their capabilities. This includes understanding how information systems can be designed or implemented in such a way as to favour innovation and adaptation, and to prevent unfavourable patterns of behaviour. The book represents an in-depth and systematic attempt to characterize the fundamental influence of software over the processes that underpin an organization's ability to create and manage knowledge. Scholars and students interested in innovation, technological change and information technology, and managers in software and other hi-tech industries will find this an insightful and highly rewarding study.

Higher education is beginning to play an increasingly important role in the process of globalization, which promotes information technologies, development and diffusion of innovations and the ability of economies to benefit from rapid shifts in the production of goods, services, and ideas. In this volume the editors have brought together some of the most significant previously published academic papers describing how highly skilled graduate labour impacts on the economy. Topics covered include the economic benefits of higher education, student choice of subject and university, the technology of higher education, empirical research on the cost functions faced by universities, the funding and financing of university education, the market for higher education and how universities compete. In their scholarly introduction, the editors provide an overview of the volume and offer suggestions for future research in this field.

This book surveys the current state of industry in sub-Saharan Africa and examines claims that Africa is de-industrialising. It focuses on the challenge for economic policy to find ways to reverse this trend. The contributors begin by analysing general issues relating to industrialisation in Africa, including the question of Africa's comparative advantage in industry, the role of small-scale enterprises and the scope for infant industry promotion. They then focus on issues such as: * evidence of de-industrialisation within Africa * comparative industrial performance between African countries and economies outside Africa * the role of regional trade integration * lessons to be learnt from industrialisation in East Asia * policies of major lending institutions towards industrial loans The authors then consider evidence from country studies including export performance in Nigeria, protection and transport costs in Uganda, public enterprises in Tanzania, enterprise reform in South Africa and the impact of free trade policies in Southern Africa. They find that the diversity of experience in the region and the complexity of the issues caution against accepting simple generalisations on African industrialisation. Industrial Development and Policy in Africa will be required reading for scholars of economic development and industrial economics.

Research on the internationalisation process of firms shows that the development of experiential knowledge is a major factor in explaining firms' internationalisation. However, our knowledge of how this takes place is limited. The detailed mechanisms of learning, and the effects of the duration of the firm's international operations, have not been studied in depth. Using examples from Denmark, Finland, South Korea, New Zealand and Sweden, the contributors to this book examine these factors and test the basic assumptions of the internationalisation process of firms. In doing so, they explore how firms accumulate knowledge on foreign markets and analyse whether the number of countries in which firms operate influences the quantity and quality of knowledge accumulated. The effect is to expand our understanding of the use of knowledge and the international transfer of knowledge in the internationalisation process. Learning in the Internationalisation Process of Firms will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and practitioners of international business and management.

Market dominance - encompassing single firm dominance, overt and tacit collusion, mergers and vertical restraints - raises many complex analytical and policy issues, all of which continue to be the subject of theoretical research and policy reform. This second edition of a popular and comprehensive text extends the arguments and combines an analysis of the issues with a discussion of actual policy and case studies. This new edition addresses the recent fundamental changes in antitrust law, especially in the UK and the EU, and reviews some high profile and controversial cases such as the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger and the Microsoft monopoly. The author moves on to deal with several unresolved questions including the conflicts between trade and antitrust policy, the foreign take-over of domestic assets and extra-territorial claims made by certain countries. Market Dominance and Antitrust Policy will be of considerable value to students and scholars of economics, law and business, as well as researchers, policymakers and practitioners with an interest in competition policy and international trade.

Economic skill is an essential partner to technical skill in every step of the mining process. An economic "mindset" begins before the first drill hole. This new book will help you effectively direct mining operations through the use of innovative economic strategies.

The text covers what is meant by a cost-effective mining scheme, the economics of information, and the procedures for rational evaluation of uncertain projects. It defines "ore" from an economic perspective and covers the influence of scheduling on ore reserves.

Discounted cash flow techniques, the most widely used evaluation technique for investment decision making, is covered in detail. The assumption of the use of spreadsheets is unique to this book. The application of DCF techniques in an operating mine environment is given expanded coverage and examples are drawn from real-life studies.

The differences between economic decision-making--a forward-looking task--and the reporting of results via accounting methods--a backward-looking activity--are reviewed. Capital and decision-making procedures associated with capital investments in a risk environment are given extensive coverage. Case studies for capital investment in an operating mine are included. Comprehensive examples investigate "value" from a risk-reduction perspective and from an "expected return on investment" perspective.

This book offers solutions to the problem that many mining projects fail to achieve expectations because of their inability to adapt to change. A new technique is explained that allows calculation of capital that is "at risk" from capital that is not at risk. This promises significant advances in the way that investments are made and capital is valued in the industry.

For over 30 years environmental policy has developed under the assumption that self-interest explains firms' environmental behaviour and that the problem of pollution can be rectified by technological fixes. This policy paradigm has been proved wrong: entrenched antagonism between firms and regulators, and greater environmental harm, have proved to be the dominant outcomes. This book re-focuses environmental policy analysis by demonstrating how behavioural models can be applied within the field to better understand the propensity of the firm to engage in pro-environmental, innovative activities. The book develops an essential tool for environmental policy analysis in the context of technical change. A rigorous theoretical and methodological framework is applied to identify sources of firms' willingness (or resistance) to engage in cleaner production and to evaluate under which conditions the firm's pro-environmental, innovative behaviour may be fostered. The author undertakes extensive research through a case study of the In-Bond industry in Mexico and assesses the significance and relationship of individual factors relating to a firm's innovative behaviour towards 'greener' production. The model developed helps to understand the planned behaviour of the firm in specific contexts, to shape and guide empirical inquiry, and to produce useful corporate and public policy recommendations. Environmental Policy and Technological Innovation comprehensively explores the factors which can influence a firm's behavioural approach towards developing clean technologies. Unlike many other studies on environmental policy, it addresses the origin of the problems and not just the symptoms. It will become an indispensable companion for local, national and international environmental regulators, environmental policymakers and analysts, and those interested in technological innovation and technology policy.

Since the 1970s, there have been many changes to the ways in which Japanese firms have conducted business. The editors of this volume examine the strategies of Japanese subsidiaries in the new global economy and present, in four parts, a comprehensive picture of the nature of Japanese multinational enterprises.The book addresses the overall nature of Japanese investment in international markets, and its broader implications for corporate performance. The entry mode choice and its relationship to performance is then examined, in an attempt to establish overall trends in the performance of various modes. The focus then shifts explicitly to joint ventures since nearly half of all Japanese subsidiaries take this form. Finally, the management strategies that Japanese firms have used in their foreign subsidiaries are investigated. Japanese Subsidiaries in the New Global Economy utilizes empirical analyses based on a very large, longitudinal data set, coupled with state of the art conceptual development. This volume provides a complete current picture of the international strategy of Japanese firms, which will be both useful and informative for researchers, scholars and policy makers in international business, international economics, foreign investment, joint ventures and expatriate management.

Paulo Figueiredo comprehensively examines how and why latecomer companies differ in the manner and rate at which they accumulate technological capability over time. He focuses on how key features of the underlying learning processes influence the paths of technological capability accumulation and, in turn, the rate of improvement in operational performance. The author details the various processes and mechanisms by which a company acquires knowledge from external and internal sources, through individuals, and then converts, or fails to convert, it into organisational assets. These different ways of managing technological learning are studied in detail during the lifetime of two of the largest steel companies in Brazil. He goes on to demonstrate that the rates of technological capability-accumulation and operational performance improvement can be accelerated if deliberate and effective efforts are made to improve knowledge acquisition and knowledge conversion processes. Indeed, these efforts are likely to generate significant financial benefits for the company that manages these processes effectively. The author is rigorous in his empirical analysis and adopts an original perspective by concentrating on latecomer firms within a non-industrialised country. The focus of analysis and the practical approach developed within the book will interest students and scholars of business, technology, innovation, and strategic management, as well as providing a source of reference and information for policymakers and managers in private and state-owned organisations.

Entrepreneurs engaging in international business face business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This book applies an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship to empirical investigations of transnational corporations (TNCs) from Hong Kong and Singapore. Henry Wai-chung Yeung argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational business networks. This is illustrated by empirical data from two in-depth studies of over 300 TNCs from Hong Kong and Singapore and over 120 of their foreign affiliates in Asia. Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms is a timely contribution to theoretical and empirical studies in international business and will be widely read by those interested in international business, industrial economics, organisation studies, political economy, regional studies and economic geography.

This is the first study of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). It provides a concise description of UNIDO's activities as an actor in the field of international industrial cooperation from the 1960's to the present day. The emergence of UNIDO as a specialized agency of the United Nations is analyzed with emphasis on legal and institutional issues, and problems related to UNIDO's efficiency and its dependence upon political consideration, especially with respect to major countries, are examined. Finally, recommendations are made for the improvement of UNIDO's industrial development activities. This work will be of interest to scholars and students in development economics, international economics, international relations, and international organizations.

With the ever-increasing pressure and rivalry in the global business environment, businesses must develop sustainable practices that set them apart from the competition. Innovation and creativity are critical aspects of business that must be implemented in all areas for companies to not only survive but thrive. Embracing Business Sustainability Through Innovation and Creativity in the Service Sector provides comprehensive research about sustainable business through innovation and creativity in the service sector and aims to contribute to the knowledge of various sustainable business practices. Covering key topics such as tourism, hospitality, wealth creation, and entrepreneurship, this premier reference source is ideal for business owners, managers, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Entrepreneurial Competition and Industrial Location explores the notion of entrepreneurial competition from its theoretical foundations in early Austrian and contemporary evolutionary economics. Focusing on the structural development of the intangible factors of production such as labour skills, advertising and research and development, the book's empirical implications are tested in a comparative study of competitive performance in the EU, Japan and the USA. Typical mechanisms of external spillovers, shaping industrial location by means of Marshallian cluster formation, highlight the dimension of industrial location. Peneder finally employs the three evolutionary principles of variation, cumulation and selection to establish entrepreneurship, learning and fair markets as the main pillars of modern competitiveness policy. This volume paves the way for a better understanding of the market process, demonstrating the importance of intangible factors as sources of competitive advantage both by conclusive theoretical argument and careful empirical investigation.