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  • © 2019

Innovation in Developing Countries

Lessons from Vietnam and Laos

  • Evaluates the impact of various aspects of firms’ operations on product, process, and organizational innovations
  • Examines what determines innovation and its effects on firm performance of manufacturing SMEs in Vietnam and Laos
  • Summarizes innovation theories succinctly and precisely for understanding innovation in developing countries

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Introduction to Innovation

    • Nobuaki Matsunaga
    Pages 1-22
  3. Conclusions

    • Nobuaki Matsunaga
    Pages 123-126
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 127-129

About this book

The main focus of this book is innovation for developing countries: what is the innovation for, what are the current conditions of the innovation, and how to effectively innovate in developing economies. It contains the latest insights and analyses of innovation based on intensive interviews as well as primary and secondary data of manufacturing firms in developing countries, Vietnam and Laos in particular. Innovation requires something new. Integration of deep understanding of innovation and econometric analyses are a “new combination” in this book, which contrasts with other, similar books in the field. This new approach may benefit policy makers as well as scholars and firms in poor countries.

The main points of the book are summarized as follows: First, for most poor countries “learning innovation” is considered the key to economic growth rather than “leading-edge innovation”, which is a more popular theme in similar books on innovation. Second, an overwhelming majority ofinnovations currently used in poor countries are developed in advanced countries, so technology transfer and learning from the latter are a fundamental source of innovation in the former. Third, a surprisingly high rate of firms (around 50%) reported that they introduced new or significantly improved products or processes in poor countries, and this high innovation rate is a great benefit to be enhanced by government policies. Fourth, the common factors driving innovation of manufacturing firms in Vietnam and Laos are (1) human capital, (2) social capital, and (3) innovation in the past. Fifth, the impact of innovation on firm performance is found to be mixed in these countries. Sixth, so far almost all studies on innovation have focused on product or process innovation, but additional light is shed here on organizational innovation.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Nobuaki Matsunaga

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access