Small Manufacturing Enterprises

Until the 1970s no developing country - except India - showed much concern for promoting industrialization through small manufacturing enterprises. By examining Indian small-enterprise development and policy in detail in an international context, this book draws lessons for industrial policy in developing economies. To provide comparisons, the authors assess experiences with the development of small enterprises in several other economies, including Colombia, Indonesia, the republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. The core of this book is an investigation of the claim that the promotion of small enterprises has a special role in industrial policy, for example for facilitating the use of labour and other forces of production. In addition to analyzing aggregate data from national sources, the authors make use of detailed surveys of the Indian shoe, soap, printing, machine tool, and metal-casting industries. They analyze such issues as the relative factor intensity, productivity, and economic efficiency of small enterprises.