ABSTRACT
The book’s research design is based on the conduction of four case studies with the target of providing empirical evidence for two specified causal mechanisms. Empirical evidence is collected by conducting 20 expert interviews in Indonesia’s and Malaysia’s automotive and information and communication sectors. The chapter refers to the method of theory-testing process tracing defined by Beach and Pedersen (2013). They differentiate between three modes of process tracing, namely theory-testing, theory-building, and explaining-outcome. For process-tracing methods, it is essential to analyze whether a causal mechanism is existent and whether it works as initially theorized. Furthermore, theory-testing process tracing assumes the existence of causal mechanisms that are indirectly observable in multiple cases (Beach, 2016; Beach and Pedersen, 2013: 14–15). The first part of the chapter summarizes the process tracing approach. It presents two causal mechanisms – a discrimination mechanism and a technology mechanism – and emphasizes their interrelation. The chapters’ second part clarifies how the book collects empirical evidence and provides reasoning regarding the selection of case studies. Finally, the chapter summarizes the features of the comparative historical analysis.
