High-Tech Industries, Employment and Global Competitiveness

The process of development in recent times has been characteristically marked by the expanding reach of multinational enterprises, flows of foreign direct investment, unprecedented growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) and knowledge-based industries, and infusion of ICT across the entire spectrum of industries and activities. High-tech knowledge-based industries like information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and so on have played an important role in the transition of Chinese and Indian economies-the two largest and fastest growing economies. This inter-disciplinary book offers an in-depth understanding of the behaviour of firms in these industries, analysing the strategies they adopt in a globally competitive environment, the role they have played in ushering in the growth revolution in China and India, and the contribution they have made to the nature and growth of employment. This study also dwells upon the emerging nature of scientific and technological developments like nanotechnology, novel materials, spintronics and quantum computers, with the conclusion that in the future, knowledge and technology are going to be the real sources of wealth for nations.

S. R. Hashim is Director, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi; President, India Water Patnership; and Vice-President, Forum for Global Knowledge Sharing. Prior to this he was Chairman, Union Public Service Commission; Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Member, Planning Commission. His book (co-authored with M.M. Dadi) Capital Output Relations in Indian Industries (1973) is widely regarded as a seminal work. Dr Hashim has received several academic honours and has made significant contributions to development planning and policies. N. S. Siddharthan is Member Secretary and Honorary Director, Forum for Global Knowledge Sharing and Honorary Professor of Economics, Madras School of Economics. He has published several books, among them Global Business, Technology and Knowledge Sharing: Lessons for Developing Country Enterprises (2002); Technology, Market Structure and Internationalisation (1997); and Conglomerates and Multinationals in India (1981). He has also published numerous articles in academic journals.

1. Introduction S.R. Hashim and N.S. Siddharthan Section 1: Global Competitiveness 2. Software and Hardware Firms in India and China: How they Differ Stanley Nollen and N.S. Siddharthan 3. Small Firms in Indian Software Clusters: Building Global Competitiveness Aya Okada 4. Technology Acquisition and Competitiveness: Evidence from the Indian IT Industry K. Narayan 5. China's Pharmaceutical Industry: Multinational Enterprises and Regional Agglomeration Haiyan Zhang and Daniel Van Den Bulcke 6. An Analysis of Sourcing and Sales Strategies of Foreign Subsidiaries in the South of China Filip De Beule, Daniel Van Den Bulcke and Luodan Xu 7. Small Islands, New Technologies and Globalisation: A Case of ICT Adoption by SMEs in Mauritius Kaushalesh Lal Section 2: Employment 8. MNEs, Product Differentiation, Skills and Employment: Lessons from the Indian Experience B.L. Pandit and N.S. Siddharthan 9. Imported Technology and Employment: Evidence from Panel Data on Indian Manufacturing Firms Atsushi Kato and Arup Mitra 10. Employment Profile of the ICT Sector in India Sandip Sarkar and Balwant Singh Mehta Section 3: Science and Technology - A Perspective 11. Scientific Developments: A Vision G. Baskaran 12. Investing in a Technology-rich Future P.V. Indiresan