Book Description

Current North-South trade relationships and the underlying structural characteristics which determine the resultant international distribution of benefits set the context into which microelectronics based innovations (MBIs) will be introduced. Any speculation on possible scenarios regarding the impact of microelectronics on the Third World must take these contextual factors into consideration. One of the most significant of these factors is the phenomenon of Third World industrialisation efforts which have led to fairly significant increases in the export of manufactured products. Rates of growth of manufactured exports averaged around 26 per cent per year during the 1970s. These aggregate growth rates, although impressive, do not necessarily reflect the situation of individual nations since developing countries are by no means a homogeneous group. Different countries have experienced varying degrees of success in increasing the value and volume of their manufactured exports. This is largely due to differences between countries in terms of the structure of their economies and the orientation of their industrialisation strategies. Underlying these differences are factors likely to be crucial in determining the ability of these countries to respond to changes in trading conditions brought about by the use of MBIs.