Based upon the experiences of a diverse set of countries - including Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the United States - this analysis describes the elements of a model small-firm network, and sets out the conditions, institutions and policies conducive to a successful strategy of upgrading industrial sectors. It is a valuable source of ideas and experience on this innovative approach to industrial development.

Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.

This title was first published in 2000: As in many other LDCs, in Indonesia small-scale industries (SSIs) are important, particularly with respect to the creation of employment opportunities. SSIs are expected to absorb many millions of workers who have been displaced by current economic crisis. This work seeks to explain the pattern of development of SSIs in Indonesia within a broader theoretical framework. It also deals with a number of SSI development-related aspects that in Indonesia so far have never or rarely been studied, such as the formation of strategic alliance, cluster development, and application of theories of flexible specialization to the LDCs. The book also tries to examine empirically the effects of the current economic crisis and to assess theoretically the likely impact of the full implementation of the agreed IMF reform package on SSI development in the country. Main problems faced by small producers and the government policy environment are highlighted through several detailed examples.

Since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999, increasing attention has been paid to the problems of economic development and reconstruction in South-East Europe. In a context of limited resources, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have a key role to play in creating jobs and building a dynamic entrepreneurial economy. Small Enterprise Development In South-East Europe presents important findings from recent empirical research on key factors, which hinder sustainable SME growth in South-East Europe. Finance is identified as a critical barrier to growth, and the role of commercial banks, micro-finance institutions and credit cooperatives in assisting growth is addressed. Yet finance alone is not enough. A rebuilding of social capital, a reduction of the unofficial or grey economy, and the promotion of inter-firm networks and clusters are also of vital importance in promoting sustainable growth. The book concludes with critical analyses of SME policies in Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia, countries which hitherto have received little attention in the literature. Small Enterprise Development in South-East Europe will be of great interest to policy makers, business consultants, and academics and post-graduate students working on economic development and reconstruction in South-East Europe.

This title was first published in 2000: The first book which brings together and interprets both the theoretical concepts associated with the study of networks in the business world, and the policy applications being applied to the practical building and development of such networks. It maps the changes in the culture of economic development policy that occurred in the UK during the 1990s, incorporating a detailed assessment of the contribution that the Training and Enterprise Councils made to business support policies. The book is published at a time when network and cluster building has risen to the top of economic development agendas not only in UK, but in many countries throughout the world. It offers the most detailed insight so far available into the structure, motivations and processes involved in developing business networks through institutional intervention. The book is relevant to anyone with an interest in business policy and theory.

This book sheds new light on the role of industrial districts in the industrial development of the past and present. Industrial districts, which refer to the geographical concentration of enterprises producing similar or closely related commodities in a small area, play a significant role in the development of manufacturing industries not only historically in Europe and Japan but also at present in emerging East Asian economies, such as China and Vietnam and low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The book identifies similarities in the development patterns of industrial districts in history and the present and analyzes the reasons for these similarities. More specifically, the book examines whether Marshallian agglomeration economies provide sufficient explanations and seeks to deepen understanding about the important factors that are missing. Despite the common issues addressed by economic historians and development economists regarding the advantages of industrial districts for industrial development, discussion of these issues between the two groups of researchers has been largely absent, or at best weak. The purpose of this book is to integrate the results of case studies by economic historians interested in France, Spain, and Japan and those by development economists interested in the contemporary industries still developing in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Special attention is paid to the roles of corporate governance, technological integration, the role of environmental and regional policies and the reform of the banking system.