ABSTRACT
Developing countries pursued a number of policies designed to enhance industrialisation mainly arising from their perceptions of its role and meaning in development. It was regarded as the key to catching up to the high living standards and political stature of industrialised countries. There is considerable disagreement among economists and policy makers about the role of trade in industrial development. Arguments in favour or against different strategies are mainly by Neoclassical and Structural economists. An economy's involvement in international trade is generally regarded as an extension of its markets for the supply of goods and materials. In an inward-oriented strategy, trade and incentives to industry give a preference to production for the domestic rather than export market. This is the well-known import substitution industrialisation. Trade and industrial policies in an outward-oriented strategy show no bias between production for domestic markets and exports.
