First Published in 2013. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The changes following more than two decades of economic reforms and globalization of the Indian economy – at state, corporate sector, and consumer level – raise interesting questions on the ways in which the stakeholders will continue to engage on the world stage, politically, socially and economically. One key feature of global trade over this period has been the growing importance of not only product standards but, importantly, labor, environmental, food safety and social standards. Being essentially a non-tariff barrier,standards have often become critical to market access and essential to sustained competitiveness. This has a clear impact on the manner in which both global and Indian business is conducted now and in the future. It also underlines the need for a new area of enquiry that addresses the following questions: How are the Indian public and private actors – the state, domestic firms, local consumers and society – influencing and being influenced by such standards? Do standards really matter in an overwhelmingly informal production sphere, with consumers deeply segmented on the basis of a highly skewed distribution of income and with the rural population becoming further marginalized? We have limited knowledge about the challenges faced and strategies pursued by these key domestic actors, both public and private. How have they been able to drive these processes and what are their implications for larger concerns with inequalities and the conditions of the poor? How does the omnipresent informality influence compliance, encourage multiple standards and affect the chances of addressing institutional dysfunctionality? What role does regulation play? These are some of the issues dealt with in the book, which has chapters focusing on aspects of specific sectors such as microfinance, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, tea trading, the role of the state and changing consumer influence. We have limited knowledge about the challenges faced and strategies pursued by these key domestic actors, both public and private. How have been they able to drive these processes and what are the consequences of these changes for the Indian economy, other emergent economies and for the rest of the developing world? In particular, what are their implications for the wider Indian society, especially on concerns with informality, inequalities and the conditions of the poor? How does informality in its omnipresent form influence compliance, encourage multiple standards and chances of addressing institutional dysfunctionality? What role does regulation play? These are some of the issues dealt within the book wherein chapters focus on aspects of specific sectors, trading, role of the state and changing influence of the consumer.

This book aims to shed light on the potentially innovative ICT (information and communication technology) architectures from an East Asian regional perspective. The business environment brought about by the development of ICT intensified global competition and caused dramatic changes in the industrial architecture. Firms that are involved in manufacturing and maintenance of ICT hardware and that offer services for software development are continuously being created, giving rise to the provision of new and diverse services to an increasingly growing East Asian regional market. Such industrial activities are advancing the shift from an old to a new industrial architecture. Some parts of emerging economies have grasped this edge on economic globalization and informatization and have adopted business models that enable them to enter the world economy. Entering this century, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam in East Asia have been rapidly expanding their ICT-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) businesses as destinations of offshoring of service activities by firms in the advanced economies, following India’s example. Policy makers and firms in those countries are also meeting the challenge of catching up with advanced economies through the development of such industries. It has enabled those economies to exploit new possibilities of further development, which may mean a new stage of manufacturing cum services in an ICT- and knowledge-based economy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for about 97–99 per cent of total enterprises and 60–80 per cent of total employment in ASEAN countries. The participation of SMEs is thus crucial for achieving greater regional economic integration amongst ASEAN countries. SMEs are, however, often constrained by many disadvantages that limit their abilities to become importers and exporters. This is well documented in the research literature on trade and firm size. This volume contains selected ASEAN country studies on the participation of SMEs in regional economic integration based on primary microdata. This is supplemented by empirical studies on the role played by East Asian multinational enterprises in the region. "The editors and authors of SMEs and Economic Integration in Southeast Asia are to be congratulated for this major contribution to the scholarly and policy literature on a subject of much public discussion but limited analytical research. The emphasis on economic integration highlights the importance of these firms in Southeast Asia’s growing regional and global engagement. The thirteen chapters, by leading authors in the field, comprise both insightful country analyses and careful examination of the links between SMEs and foreign investment." Hal Hill, H.W. Arndt Professor Emeritus of Southeast Asian Economies, Australian National University

Before the arrival of the twenty-first century, Taiwan was widely regarded as a successful model of a country which had not only transformed herself from an underdeveloped economy into a high-tech industrialised island, but had also undergone a revolution from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. Taiwan is now experiencing a significant economic slowdown and facing multifaceted challenges including low productivity, stagnant innovation culture of small and medium-sized enterprises, ageing population, sustainable energy mix, pension reform, upgrading of human resources, devising competition policy to provide incentives for innovation as well as to limit abuses from monopolies, warding off competition from countries with lower labour cost and managing complicated cross-Strait relationship with China. The edited book looks at Taiwan’s past successful development model, summarises Taiwan’s current situation, outlines the future challenges beyond the year 2020 and provides policy recommendations in the aforementioned aspects. The contributors of this volume are accomplished veteran scholars in the fields. Several of them used to be policy-makers at the level of ministers or deputy ministers. The book offers not only academic contribution but policy-relevant insights.

This book assesses the digital Bangladesh initiative of the government through different lenses: supply-side and demand-side perspectives and policy diffusions. The Bangladesh government has been pursuing a big-push policy for digitalization, namely the “Digital Bangladesh Vision,” since 2009 as a shifting development strategy to leapfrog into the next level of development with the leverage of demographic dividend. However, historical anecdotes, dictated policy, international success stories and other related issues could lead to a rethinking on ICT-based development strategy. The content of the book draws on the author’s long-standing research works on ICTs and economic growth in Bangladesh.

This book provides a knowledge-based view to the dynamic capabilities in an organization. The author integrates two existing views on gaining competitive advantage: the Knowledge View which suggests that the capability of organizations to learn faster than competitors is the only source of competitiveness; and the Dynamic Capability View which speculates that a firm’s competitive advantage rests on dynamic capabilities which enable a firm to constantly renew the stock of ordinary organizational capabilities in accordance with the changes in the business environment. Using the IT sector in India as a case study, this book provides and tests a new framework--Knowledge-Based Dynamic Capabilities—in the prediction of competitive advantage in organizations.

This book summarizes the “interim result” of the servitization activities in manufacturing industries. While the early literature on servitization tended to stress only its advantages, more recently, scholars have also started to refer to the challenges associated with servitization. This book attempts to give a balanced picture of servitization. The book is structured in four parts: Part I introduces the topic by presenting the most recent academic discussion about servitization and uses an empirical analysis to show the degree of servitization across Europe. The results of this analysis are then compared to the discussion in the literature. This comparison highlights the existing discrepancies between the rather euphoric literature and the more skeptical practical experience. The second and third parts attempt to explain these discrepancies by taking as a starting point the assumption that servitization recommendations have to consider the heterogeneity of the manufacturing sector and the capabilities of the provider. Part II presents articles which analyze the specific characteristics of different sectors with their barriers and potentials and presents frameworks for a successful servitization of the core sectors in European manufacturing industries which include, e.g. aeronautics, automotive, ICT, chemical industries, pulp and paper industries and different engineering sectors. Part III focuses on companies’ capabilities which are necessary for successful servitization. These include strategic management, marketing, organization, innovation, engineering, human resources, controlling, quality and networks. All the contributions in parts II and III add up to a detailed picture of servitization for sectors and functions and indicate the practical implications for enterprises in manufacturing industries. The fourth part concludes the book with a chapter summarizing the findings and giving an outlook of servitization in manufacturing industries, its challenges and future developments.

This book looks at two-stage industrial cluster theory and new innovation models in view of IT-ization and servitization of products. The formation of industrial clusters such as export processing zones and special economic zones has been the preferred mechanism for developing countries to boost their industrial development and export performance for the last several decades. Existing literature related to Development Economics cited numerous benefits of industrial clusters and several countries have reaped such benefits. The book goes beyond formation of traditional industrial clusters. It promotes the idea of formation of two-stage clusters. The book further stresses on new innovation models. The ideas are promoted based on the empirical evidence of Chinese and Taiwanese firms in consumer electronics and automobile sectors. Finally, the book looks at firm strategies in new business environment which is dominated by servitization of industrial products. It argues for firms to integrate manufacturing and services to a great extent. To substantiate the arguments, empirical evidence comes from India, Taiwan, and Bangladesh. The study further finds evidence, perhaps for the first time that innovation and knowledge acquisition strategies are influenced not only by size of firms but also vary with market preferences.