Introduction

This book examines the sources of export success in six East Asian developing countries and the sustainability of this success in the context of current changes in the competitive environment. For comparative purposes, we have chosen to concentrate on three groups of countries: two leading newly industrialized economies (NIEs), the Republic of Korea and Taiwan Province of China, two second-tier newly industrializing economies, Thailand and Indonesia, whose manufactured exports have been growing rapidly over the past decade; and one country that is only now emerging as a new location for industrial exports, Viet Nam.