From Underdogs to Tigers: The Rise and Growth of the Software Industry in Brazil, China, India, Ireland, and Israel
From Underdogs to Tigers: The Rise and Growth of the Software Industry in Brazil, China, India, Ireland, and Israel
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1468-0297.2006.01069_1.x
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发表时间：
2006-02
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
S. Kapur
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文献类型：
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作者：
S. Kapur
软件行业的成功在很大程度上是私营企业的故事，因此为政策制定者提供了喜忧参半的教训。自然，它重申了投资人力资本的价值，特别是在科技教育方面。但在更多技术上的投资是不够的。在以色列，政府通过国防采购合同促进了充满活力的研发部门的发展。爱尔兰的成功归功于出现了对投资本身更有利的政策，而不是任何针对软件行业的政策。更能说明问题的是，在印度，该行业可能受益于善意的忽视，因为先锋企业在政策干预的雷达下崛起：一个运转不良的官僚机构看不到的东西，它就无法摧毁。总体而言，这些成功案例对启动技术密集型产业的国家战略提供的支持有限。更重要的可能是让公司进行实验，找出什么是有效的。随着时间的推移，成功公司和行业的“光环效应”可以被用来进军其他技术密集型出口，就像印度在业务流程外包方面所做的那样。软件业在多大程度上为其他新兴经济体提供了另一种发展模式？在这个问题上，这本书充其量只是一种推测。必须把这些国家软件业的高增长率放在该领域全球快速增长的背景下看待。虽然有一些证据表明，在全球技术市场低迷的情况下，这些新兴经济体的软件业保持了增长速度，但持续增长可能需要有能力将最初的优势扩大到相关的技术密集型部门。此外，相对较小的基数的增长似乎很出色，部分原因是人们将其与其他行业平淡无奇的表现进行了比较，特别是在印度等国。如果这个行业必须扮演一个变革性的角色。成功的教训必须向下渗透到更广泛的经济领域。总体而言，这是一本关于一个重要主题的协调良好的论文集。各个国家的研究相互联系，自然会吸引这些国家的政策制定者。但这本书的优势在于三个主题章节，它们汇集了各国的经验，以研究行业演变，以及移民和跨国公司在该行业中所起的作用：这些应该是所有发展经济学家和政策制定者的基本读物。
The success of the software industry is largely a story of private enterprise and, as such, offers mixed lessons for policy makers. Naturally, it reiterates the value of investing in human capital, especially in science and technology education. But investment in more technology is not enough. In Israel, the government catalysed the growth of a vibrant R&D sector through defence procurement contracts. Irish success owes to the emergence of a more favourable policy towards investment per se rather than to any policies targeting the software industry. More tellingly, in India the sector may have benefited from benign neglect, as the pioneering firms arose below the radar of policy interventions: what a dysfunctional bureaucracy could not see, it could not destroy. On the whole, the success stories offer only limited support for national strategies to jump start a technology-intensive industry. It may be more important to allow firms to experiment to find out what works well. Over time, the ‘halo effect’of successful firms and industries can be used to make inroads into other skill-intensive exports, as India as done in business process outsourcing.To what extent does the software industry offer an alternative model of development for other emerging economies? On this issue, this book is, at best, speculative. The high growth rates of the software industry in these countries must be seen against the backdrop of rapid global growth in this sector. While there is some evidence that the software industry in these emerging economies maintained its growth rate in the face of the global downturn in technology markets, continued growth may require the ability to extend the initial advantages to related skillintensive sectors. Besides, growth from a relatively small base seems stellar partly because the comparison is made with the lacklustre performance of other industries, especially in countries like India. If the industry has to play a transformational role. the successful lessons must trickle down to the broader economy. On the whole, this is a well-coordinated collection of essays on an important subject. The individual country studies engage with each other and will naturally appeal to policy makers in those countries. But the strength of the book lies in the three thematic chapters that bring together the country experiences to study the industry evolution, and the role played by migration and multinational corporations in this industry: these should be essential reading for all development economists and policy makers.