ABSTRACT
Although most observers recognise the importance of technology to economic development, there is remarkably little understanding of the nature of technological progress in Pacific Asia. The ways in which both local and foreign firms acquire, assimilate, adapt and generate technology are poorly understood-not least in the electronics industry, by far the region’s largest sector. The lessons to be gleaned from how electronics firms have combined learning and innovation with export-led growth lend a positive dimension to what, for several countries, has recently been a gloom-ridden story of macroeconomic mismanagement, financial imprudence and rapidly declining economic growth. In contrast with the countries of Latin America and Eastern Europe, which have also faced deep economic crisis, each of the Pacific Asian exporting nations has integrated itself into the world’s productive, technological and market centres through exports, and capable exporting firms. If the region’s major governments can implement the reforms needed to overcome the economic crisis, both major groups of electronics firms-local and foreign transnational corporations (TNCs) —could spearhead a new wave of export-led growth.
