Title: A second chance for the flexible specialisation with robotics? Ageing society in Korea as a case

Authors: Junmo Kim

Addresses: Department of Public Administration, Konkuk University, Neung Dong Ro 120, Seoul 143-701, South Korea

Abstract: The theory of flexible specialisation has been offering a challenging alternative to mass production system since its debut. Despite the attractiveness of the theory, practical applicability of the theoretical content has been weak. As time passes by, however, new momentum has been building up from the robotics and its related technology development, which can really open up the possibilities for flexible specialisation. Especially the advent of ageing society can be an impetus to change the industrial paradigm, due to labour shortage. This paper, noting the symptoms of change, has endeavoured with empirical data of Korea to see which industrial sectors are likely to start up this industrial change in the future.

Keywords: ageing society; gross value added to assets; flexible specialisation; mobile robots; Korea; robotics; flexible automation; industrial robots; cluster analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2015.067783

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2015 Vol.15 No.1, pp.45 - 58

Received: 04 Mar 2014
Accepted: 17 Apr 2014
Published online: 05 Mar 2015 *

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