The Economic Geography of the IT Industry in the Asia Pacific Region

by Cooke; Philip

• ISBN13: 9780415631075
• ISBN10: 0415631076
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-07-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book is designed to broaden and deepen the understanding of the current and future structure and geography of the Information Technology industry in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry has evolved through a number stages, beginning with supply chain links to large, mainly US-based, firms drawing on the benefits of lower labour costs. That experience provided learning opportunities for firms which steadily developed globally significant capacity and capability. These matured into locally owned production, spawning in the process some large producers and some well known brand names, many shifting production across the region as particular labour or other production advantages became apparent. This process of evolution was assisted by national and regional governments who provided a range of sectoral as well as physical infrastructure assistance. Over time it became apparent that the key competitive edge in IT production lay in product innovation, and parts of the region became global leaders in some parts of the IT industry. In overview it seems the Asia Pacific region has developed a distinctive role and character within the global IT industry the authors of this volume examine these developments.