Title: Manufacturing in the developing countries: A Venezuelan perspective

Authors: Ricardo Ernst

Addresses: Georgetown University, School of Business Administration, Washington, DC 20057, USA

Abstract: This paper presents a descriptive model that explains industrial development in Venezuela and its influence on the manufacturing sector. We start by introducing the critical aggregate variables that determine industrial development: participation of the Government, distribution of the resources, long- versus short-term planning, and the lack of an industrial tradition. We then present a general model that captures the interaction among these aggregate variables and their effect on the market structure. Based on that model, different companies face options or strategic alternatives resulting from their particular level of planning. Finally, the paper summarizes all these expectations in a simple model that captures the role of manufacturing at the firm level. The model allows us to understand the different scenarios that the Venezuelan manufacturing sector faces by emphasising the constraints that limit industrial development.

Keywords: business-government relations; manufacturing management; manufacturing systems; strategic planning; developing countries; technology management; Venezuela; industrial development; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1993.025778

International Journal of Technology Management, 1993 Vol.8 No.3/4/5, pp.342 - 354

Published online: 24 May 2009 *

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