Managing technological transformation in the developing countries : lessons from East Asia and challenges from the Uruguay Round

Abstract

History has shown us that science and technology (S&T) policy framework has been seriously under-prioritised in the South countries. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which is the lack of understanding amongst policy-makers in the South of the significant importance of S&T in a nation's development. While many nations of the South, that have given little priority to S&T, struggle to grapple with the various development obstacles they face, we find that countries that have prioritised S&T have a consistent record of achieving high growth rates in a relatively short period of time. The industrialisation experiences of East Asia are salient here and would appear to reinforce this statement. This thesis attempts to examine how nations can plan for their technological transformation using an S&T policy framework. We accomplish this by examining the strategies South countries can employ to master the transferred technology, and progressively build industry competitiveness at an international scale as a result of those strategies. The analysis pays particular attention to what we can learn in this regard, from the experiences of East Asian countries, specifically, Japan and Korea. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)