Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity

Despite widespread agreement among economists that labor-intensive manufacturing has contributed mightily to rapid development in China and other fast-growing economies, most developing countries have had little success in raising the share of manufacturing in production, employment, or exports. Ta...

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Main Authors: Dinh, Hinh T., Rawski, Thomas G., Zafar, Ali, Wang, Lihong, Mavroeidi, Eleonora
Format: Publication
Language:en_US
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15763
id okr-10986-15763
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-157632021-04-23T14:03:22Z Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity Dinh, Hinh T. Rawski, Thomas G. Zafar, Ali Wang, Lihong Mavroeidi, Eleonora Chinese manufacturing Development of light manufacturing Industrial parks Industrial clusters Manufacturing Light Manufacturing Case Studies Industrial policy Trading companies Despite widespread agreement among economists that labor-intensive manufacturing has contributed mightily to rapid development in China and other fast-growing economies, most developing countries have had little success in raising the share of manufacturing in production, employment, or exports. Tales from the Development Frontier recounts efforts to establish light manufacturing clusters in several Asian and African countries, looking in particular at China. A companion volume to Light Manufacturing in Africa—which laid out a strategy for injecting new industrial growth nodes into African economies—Tales from the Development Frontier focuses on the six main binding constraints to competitiveness that nascent light manufacturing industries must overcome in developing countries: the availability, cost, and quality of inputs; access to industrial land; access to finance; trade logistics; entrepreneurial capabilities, both technical and managerial; and worker skills. The volume systematically explores potential growth opportunities in light manufacturing in a carefully selected subset of industries: agribusiness, apparel, leather goods, wood-working, and metal products. It specifies the constraints that need to be addressed before local and international entrepreneurs can take advantage of the latent comparative advantage available to many low-income economies in the target industries. It also proposes policies to ease the constraints—policies that can open the door to rapid increases in industrial output, employment, productivity, and exports. The outcomes described in this volume include both inspiring successes and miserable failures in addressing the binding constraints in the identified sectors. These examples reveal how and why industrial development efforts in poor countries—where, by definition, underlying conditions are far from ideal—can accelerate growth. Most of the firms described in a series of case studies started from a very simple and modest base in an environment full of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With its rich array of new material, this book will support the ongoing research of policy analysts focused on China and other developing countries. Above all, the volume aims to embolden business entrepreneurs and government officials in low-income countries to pursue newly emerging opportunities to expand and accelerate the growth of light manufacturing in their home economies. 2013-09-12T16:44:48Z 2013-09-12T16:44:48Z 2013-09 978-0-8213-9988-0 110.1596/978-0-8213-8276-9 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15763 en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research Africa Asia Bangladesh China Ethiopia India Kenya Lesotho Mauritius Pakistan Senegal Tanzania Vietnam Zambia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language en_US
topic Chinese manufacturing
Development of light manufacturing
Industrial parks
Industrial clusters
Manufacturing
Light Manufacturing
Case Studies
Industrial policy
Trading companies
spellingShingle Chinese manufacturing
Development of light manufacturing
Industrial parks
Industrial clusters
Manufacturing
Light Manufacturing
Case Studies
Industrial policy
Trading companies
Dinh, Hinh T.
Rawski, Thomas G.
Zafar, Ali
Wang, Lihong
Mavroeidi, Eleonora
Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
geographic_facet Africa
Asia
Bangladesh
China
Ethiopia
India
Kenya
Lesotho
Mauritius
Pakistan
Senegal
Tanzania
Vietnam
Zambia
description Despite widespread agreement among economists that labor-intensive manufacturing has contributed mightily to rapid development in China and other fast-growing economies, most developing countries have had little success in raising the share of manufacturing in production, employment, or exports. Tales from the Development Frontier recounts efforts to establish light manufacturing clusters in several Asian and African countries, looking in particular at China. A companion volume to Light Manufacturing in Africa—which laid out a strategy for injecting new industrial growth nodes into African economies—Tales from the Development Frontier focuses on the six main binding constraints to competitiveness that nascent light manufacturing industries must overcome in developing countries: the availability, cost, and quality of inputs; access to industrial land; access to finance; trade logistics; entrepreneurial capabilities, both technical and managerial; and worker skills. The volume systematically explores potential growth opportunities in light manufacturing in a carefully selected subset of industries: agribusiness, apparel, leather goods, wood-working, and metal products. It specifies the constraints that need to be addressed before local and international entrepreneurs can take advantage of the latent comparative advantage available to many low-income economies in the target industries. It also proposes policies to ease the constraints—policies that can open the door to rapid increases in industrial output, employment, productivity, and exports. The outcomes described in this volume include both inspiring successes and miserable failures in addressing the binding constraints in the identified sectors. These examples reveal how and why industrial development efforts in poor countries—where, by definition, underlying conditions are far from ideal—can accelerate growth. Most of the firms described in a series of case studies started from a very simple and modest base in an environment full of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With its rich array of new material, this book will support the ongoing research of policy analysts focused on China and other developing countries. Above all, the volume aims to embolden business entrepreneurs and government officials in low-income countries to pursue newly emerging opportunities to expand and accelerate the growth of light manufacturing in their home economies.
format Publications & Research :: Publication
author Dinh, Hinh T.
Rawski, Thomas G.
Zafar, Ali
Wang, Lihong
Mavroeidi, Eleonora
author_facet Dinh, Hinh T.
Rawski, Thomas G.
Zafar, Ali
Wang, Lihong
Mavroeidi, Eleonora
author_sort Dinh, Hinh T.
title Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
title_short Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
title_full Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
title_fullStr Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
title_full_unstemmed Tales from the Development Frontier : How China and Other Countries Harness Light Manufacturing to Create Jobs and Prosperity
title_sort tales from the development frontier : how china and other countries harness light manufacturing to create jobs and prosperity
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2013
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15763
_version_ 1764431076165419008