ABSTRACT
Like France and Korea, Italy and Taiwan have at first glance little or nothing in common. They have not influenced one another or been subject to strong common influences. As to politics, Italy emerged from dictatorship some 40 years before Taiwan. As to economics, they were both mostly agrarian economies in the 1950s and in the following decades underwent rapid industrial development. However, as we shall see, this led in very different directions – Italy’s to a specialisation at best on medium-technology products that require high quality design and engineering, Taiwan’s from import substitution, via lowtech manufactures, to become one of the world’s largest producers of (high-tech) computer-related products.
