ABSTRACT

Following the failure of one-sidedly inward-looking and interventionist industrialization concepts in the South and in the socialist planned economies, nearly all countries sought orientation in the concept of market economy (Esser 1993, Marmora and Messner 1992). Analyses of the experiences made in OECD countries and a group of especially competitive East and Southeast Asian countries have shown that patterns of market economy and governance can differ considerably. The most competitive countries are those that do not put all their bets on competition between isolated firms, unconditioned free trade, and the state as an institution of regulation and supervision. Rather, the most successful countries are those that actively shape locational and competitive advantages (Hillebrand 1995). In a global economic environment marked by new patterns of competition, organizational concepts, and technologies, the most efficient countries tum out to be those in which groups of relevant actors succeed in organizing rapid and effective learning and decision-making processes and shaping the business environment in accordance with the new requirements that are emerging:

The new pattern of competition is marked by knowledge-and technology-based competitive advantages; competitive advantages based on inherited factor endowments are losing their significance.