This book looks at the growing economic impact of the Asian Driver economies and particularly China on global prices and through this on other low income economies. Farooki and Kaplinsky consider both the possibility of a sustained rise in commodity prices as well as the growing financialization of global commodity markets and exploring the interconnections between these issues discuss the theory and policy related challenges ahead. In the midst of a sustained global economic crisis, the authors argue that countries like China follow a commodities-intensive growth-path and that the strategic significance of commodities prices lies not so much in their nominal prices, but in their prices relative to other sectors (manufactures and services); thus, economic crisis will affect not only the commodities sector.

Japanese industry has shown its superiority in a range of traded goods sectors. It was thought that this competitive advantage arose from the use of electronics-based flexible automation technologies, but it is now clear that the major source of this industrial strength is in the development and diffusion of new management techniques such as just-in-time production and total quality management.
A number of Western firms have begun to introduce these management techniques and have begun to reap significant benefits, not just in lowering costs but also in improving product variety and quality, and in being able to satisfy customer needs more effectively. This is a practical and relevant book for those involved in the areas of policy and production, as well as being of relevance to those in the teaching and research communities.

This book looks at the experience of 13 leading-edge European companies, drawn from the manufacturing, services and health sectors. It shows how organisation has been the key to their productivity growth. It also shows that whilst Europe has much to learn from Japan and the USA, there is a distinctive European approach to organisational expertise. This has important implications for strategic policy, in these institutions themselves, but also in government at both the national and local levels. Here, too, as the case studies show, Europe has considerable expertise on which the production sector can grow.

Drawing on a large number of diverse sources, The Impact of China on Global Commodity Prices comprehensively and systematically evidences the trends in the prices of different sets of commodities, analyses the drivers of China's demand for commodities the factors constraining global supply and in the role which the financialisation of commodities is playing in constraining commodity production. It also documents and the growing role of China as a foreign investor in the commodities sectors. All of these trends are woven together to explore the fabric of strategic choices confronting public and private sector decision-makers.

This book describes the origins and character of the global Appropriate Technology movement, identifying its three major components - the environmental, the social and the economic. The author discusses appropriate technologies in the bread, brick, cement and sugar industries in Africa and Asia. The reasons for the increasing attractiveness of small-scale production in the industrially advanced countries are described, and the author aims to show how this approach can open the way to more human-centred patterns of development throughout the globe. The final chapters discuss the limited role played by markets in the development and diffusion of these appropriate technologies, and consider both the nature of suitable governmental policies and assess the likelihood of their emergence.

This book describes the origins and character of the global Appropriate Technology movement, identifying its three major components - the environmental, the social and the economic. The author discusses appropriate technologies in the bread, brick, cement and sugar industries in Africa and Asia. The reasons for the increasing attractiveness of small-scale production in the industrially advanced countries are described, and the author aims to show how this approach can open the way to more human-centred patterns of development throughout the globe. The final chapters discuss the limited role played by markets in the development and diffusion of these appropriate technologies, and consider both the nature of suitable governmental policies and assess the likelihood of their emergence.