Title: Technological learning, efficiency and environmental performance in developing countries: survey of the Ethiopian experience

Authors: Girma Zawdie, Ralph Lee

Addresses: David Livingstone Institute of International Development Studies, University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, 107 Rottenrow, Glasgow, G4 0NG, UK. Department of Chemical Engineering, Bahir Dar University, P O Box 26, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Abstract: Technological learning is crucial for mitigating the environmental impact of production through efficiency drives. Its occurrence is, however, constrained by weak management and policy regimes that inhibit competition, capacity building and investment flows. Analysis of technical efficiency trends in the Ethiopian manufacturing industry, conducted using efficiency models developed by the authors, shows scant evidence of technological learning, and confirms the hypothesis that industrialisation in developing countries correlates positively with environmental neglect. The results also suggest that there is significant scope for improving the technical efficiency of production and, hence, the environmental performance of industry through technological learning. The implications of the findings for industrialisation strategies and for the sustainability of the built environment are discussed. The fact that control policies aimed at mitigating the environmental impact of production are rarely implemented effectively in developing countries heightens the case for technological learning as a strategy for improving the environmental performance of industrial production in these countries.

Keywords: Ethiopia; developing countries; industrialisation; efficiency; technological learning; sustainability; environment; management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2002.000788

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2002 Vol.2 No.1/2/3, pp.225-243

Published online: 21 Jul 2003 *

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