ABSTRACT
At the global level the steel industry witnessed significant reorganization - with capacity contraction in the US and expansion by the late industrializers. Obsolete technology was eliminated from the industry, while Japan and Korea added new innovations. At the national level, capitalist regulation, pursued by the industry itself or by the state, determined the choice and speed of technology diffusion in the steel industry. American firms opted for new technologies reluctantly while their Japanese counterparts, and later the Korean state, launched an aggressive investment program to introduce largescale, blast furnace-based steel production. Rapid expansion had its downside of excess capacity, forcing Japanese firms to reorganize their steel industry. Brazil and India, despite overcoming initial structural dependence, continued to face stiff institutional difficulties in raising their technological capability. At the firm level different technology strategies led to varying international competitiveness. The resulting international division of labor dearly favored those countries which had aggressively adopted recent innovations.
