ABSTRACT
Along with the summary and conclusions of the book, the chapter presents case studies of a few sample countries. The case study of Malaysia offers many lessons. Despite being an oil-rich country, it did not remain fully dependent on rent on natural resources rather it utilised the opportunity of natural resources to embark on industrialisation based on acquired competitive advantages. Consequently, existence of natural resources proved to be a blessing for the country. The chapter charts the pathway of industrial policies followed by Malaysia for the last few decades. Vietnam is also considered a fit case study as it has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. We suggest that African countries can draw lessons from both Malaysia and Vietnam both of which are endowed with natural resources as with many African nations. Although South Korea is not a natural resource-rich country, the case study presented in the chapter delineates the policy that led to the country becoming the world leader in electronics.
On the other hand, the case studies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria show that these African countries did not succeed in converting natural resources as blessings and rather that the existence of huge oil reserves has proved to be a curse for these economies. A comparative analysis shows that governance has been the major problem in Africa for not converting natural resources into blessings.
