Book Description

This study looks at how the developing countries are facing the challenges of competitiveness and globalisation. Drawing the literature and on industry surveys in ten countries, it traces the role that foreign direct investment (FDI) has played in developing the garment, colour television receiver and automobile industries of Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco and Thailand. It also compares the role that FDI has played in Chile and Zimbabwe as these countries developed their natural resources based industries. The analysis is based on an examination of three economic levels: the micro-level of individual firms; the meso-level of the industrial sector and the macro-level of the policies adopted by developing countries. The findings illustrate the vulnerability of the industries under review and the difficulties that countries have faced in becoming competitive. However, where governments have had policies in place to anchor international trade and investment in their domestic economies, globalisation has opened an avenue to competitiveness and economic development.