Indian informatics in the 1980s: The changing character of state involvement

doi:10.1016/0305-750X(92)90133-G

World Development

Volume 20, Issue 1, January 1992, Pages 1-18

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(92)90133-G Get rights and content

Abstract

The 1980s liberalization of the Indian informatics industry took place in the context of continued high levels of state involvement, but there was evidence that the character of that involvement was changing. In the 1960s and 1970s the Indian state combined restrictive regulation with attempts to substitute state-owned for private production. Examining the changing role of central government regulatory agencies and state-owned enterprises in the informatics industry during the 1980s reveals tentative attempts to increase state actions aimed at complementing and promoting private entrepreneurship. Illustrative comparisons with state involvement in informatics in South Korea and Brazil suggest that this trajectory of change may have relevance beyond India.

References (77)

Peter B. Evans
State, capital and the transformation of dependence: The Brazilian computer case
World Development
(1986)
Peter B. Evans et al.
Going beyond clones in Brazil and Korea: A comparative analysis of NIC strategies in the computer industry
World Development
(1989)
Atul Kohli
Politics of economic liberalization in India
World Development
(1989)
Robert Wade
The market for public office: Why the Indian state is not better at development
World Development
(1985)
S.M. Agarwal
Electronics in India: Past strategies and future possibilities
World Development
(1985)
Isher Judge Ahluwalia
The role of policy in industrial development
Isher Judge Ahluwalia
Industrial Growth in India: Stagnation since the Mid-sixties
(1985)
Ghayur Alam
A study of India's electronics industry
Alice Amsden
Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization
(1989)
Marie Anchordoguy
Mastering the market: Japanese government targeting of the computer industry
International Organization
(1988)

Werner Baer

The Brazilian Economy

(1989)

Pranab Bardhan

The Political Economy of Development in India

(1984)

BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd.)

Company brochure, 1989

(1989)

BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd.)

34th Annual Report 1987–1988

(1988)

BICP (Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices, Government of India)

Report on Electronics

(1987)

C-DOT (Center for the Development of Telematics)

C-DOT DSS: Family of digital switches, gateway to ISDN

(1988)

C-DOT (Center for the Development of Telematics)

Annual Report, 1985–1986

(1986)

CMC (Computer Maintenance Corporation)

IMPRESS: Railway passenger reservation system

(1988)

CMC (Computer Maintenance Corporation)

The Possibilities are Infinite (Twelfth Annual Report, 1987–1988)

(1988)

Computers Today (India) (various...

Dataquest (India) (various...

Dataquest

(1990)

Dataquest

(1989)

Dataquest

(1988)

DOE (Department of Electronics, Government of India)

Annual Report, 1988–1989

(1989)

DOE (Department of Electronics, Government of India)

Annual Report, 1987–1988

(1988)

DOE (Department of Electronics, Government of India)

New Computer Policy

Electronics Information and Planning

(1984)

Charles Edquist et al.

The integrated circuit industries of India and the Republic of Korea in an international techno-economic context

Industry and Development

(1987)

Electronics Korea (various...

Dennis Encarnation

Dislodging the Multinationals: India's Strategy in Comparative Perspective

(1989)

Peter B. Evans

High Technology Industry in the Americas: Corporate Strategies and Government Policies

(1989)

Peter B. Evans

Predatory, developmental and other apparatuses: A comparative political economy perspective on the Third World state

Sociological Forum

(1989)

Peter B. Evans

Reinventing the bourgeoisie: State entrepreneurship and class formation in dependent capitalist development

American Journal of Sociology

(1982)

Peter B. Evans

Collectivizing capitalist accumulation: The social base of the development of Brazil's petrochemical complexes

Peter B. Evans

Dependent Development: The Alliance of Multinational State and Local Capital in Brazil

(1979)

Peter B. Evans et al.

State structure and state policy: Implications of the Taiwanese case for newly industrializing countries

Peter B. Evans et al.

Paths to participation in ‘hi-tech’ industry: A comparative analysis of computers in Brazil and Korea

Asian Perspective

(1989)

Kenneth Flamm

Targeting the Computer

(1987)

Cited by (32)

An evolutionary-institutional framework for the growth of an indigenous technology firms: The case of Lenovo computer
2011, Technology in Society
Citation Excerpt :
These scholars proposed that there is a need to strike a balance among the three sectors, which implies that, developing indigenous technology firms may require all of them. Following prior research [14], which advised that focusing on a particular firm, rather than on aggregate macro economy, could help identify the specific institutional actors involved, and further expose the way by which they interact with each other, we undertake a longitudinal case study of Lenovo. We attempt to examine Lenovo’s evolution in light of the involvement of the three sectors by addressing the following research questions (as shown in the Fig. 1): what is the indigenous technology firm’s evolutionary process?
Based on a case study of China’s Lenovo computer in the period 1984 to 2008, we develop an evolutionary-institutional framework to explain its growth from entrepreneurial start-up to large established firm. At the start-up stage, Lenovo first drew on the linkage with the social sector to transfer technology. At the growth stage, it leveraged government’s adverse policy as a call to explore new technological fields. At the mature stage, it emphasized learning from multinationals in the market. This framework makes an important contribution to the literature by combining all three paradigmatic theories of economic development to explain the success of Lenovo. Policy implications and future research directions are provided.
Developing high-technology latecomer firms to compete internationally: A three-sector growth model
2008, Journal of International Management
In contrast to the mainstream approach, which focuses exclusively on how foreign multinational enterprises move into developing countries, this paper researches how high-technology latecomer multinational enterprises grow from the domestic institutional context into the international market. It draws on the economic development theory and the dynamic capabilities perspective to present a three-sector growth model to understand how high-technology latecomer firms establish themselves in international competition through the interplay of the social sector, the state, and the market. The three sectors may work together when they are pushed by external threats or pulled by internal interests. High-technology latecomer firms, at the stage of “getting there,” would call for the caring hand of the social sector; at the stage of “staying there,” would need the competition of the market; and between these two stages, the discipline of the state.
Creating an environment for venture capital in India
2002, World Development
The institution of venture capitalism is a difficult one to initiate through policy intervention, particularly in developing countries with unstable macroeconomic environments and histories of state involvement in the use of national capital and in the composition of production. India has all these constraints. The emergence of a thriving software services industry after 1985 created the raw material that venture capital could finance, thus achieving a critical precondition for venture capital's growth. It was followed by efforts to create a venture capital industry. After several setbacks, some success has been achieved largely due to a slow process of moulding the environment of rules and permissible institutions. The process was assisted by the role of overseas Indians in Silicon Valley's success in the 1990s. Yet, in terms of what is needed, most of the work remains to be done. Inevitably, this will be the result of joint work by policymakers and practitioners.
Explaining economic liberalization in India: State and society perspectives
2000, World Development
The economic reforms of 1991 carried out by the Indian government were remarkable given the prevailing attitude among researchers that such reforms would be impossible to implement. This article discusses the possible explanations for the initiation and consolidation of the reform process. Contrary to the prevailing explanations that focus on the state elite or pressures from the international economy, this paper argues that the impetus came from a new breed of Indian entrepreneurs.
The restructuring of the Indian automobile industry: Indian state and Japanese capital
1995, World Development
This paper analyzes the changing institutional context in which the restructuring of the Indian automobile industry is taking place. It explains the internationalization of the industry under the aegis of deregulation of a heavily statist economy. Economic liberalization, however, has not resulted in withdrawal of the state from the industry. Transnational corporations have not necessarily weakened domestic capital. Instead Japanese capital and technology have transformed the industry with mixed outcomes, creating both benefits of and constraints to restructuring. The reorganization of the Indian automobile industry reflects not only global forces but rather the interplay of changing institutional factors in influencing industrial restructuring in a developing economy.
From Embedded Autonomy to Counter-Hegemonic Globalization: A 60-Year Adventure in Exploring Comparative Political Economy
2023, Annual Review of Sociology

View all citing articles on Scopus

^∗: Without the generously shared time of many executives and policy makers in both the public and private sector this paper could not have been written. In addition, my work was supported by a number of different institutions both in the United States and in India. A grant under the Indo-American Fellowship Program of the Indo-US Subcommission on Education and Culture made possible my fieldwork in India. Support was also provided by research funds from the University of California Pacific-Rim Research Program. The American Institute of Indian Studies provided crucial assistance during my stay in Delhi. Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences and financial support from National Science Foundation Grant #BNS87-00864 gave me the time to do the initial write-up of the work. Support from the Latin American Institute of the University of New Mexico allowed me to complete it. None of those who shared their time, supported my work, or commented on it are, of course, in any way responsible for the interpretations I offer here.

View full text

Indian informatics in the 1980s: The changing character of state involvement

Abstract

World Development

World Development

World Development

World Development

Electronics in India: Past strategies and future possibilities

World Development

The role of policy in industrial development

Industrial Growth in India: Stagnation since the Mid-sixties

A study of India's electronics industry

Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization

Mastering the market: Japanese government targeting of the computer industry

International Organization

The Brazilian Economy

The Political Economy of Development in India

Company brochure, 1989

34th Annual Report 1987–1988

Report on Electronics

C-DOT DSS: Family of digital switches, gateway to ISDN

Annual Report, 1985–1986

IMPRESS: Railway passenger reservation system

The Possibilities are Infinite (Twelfth Annual Report, 1987–1988)

Dataquest

Dataquest

Dataquest

Annual Report, 1988–1989

Annual Report, 1987–1988

New Computer Policy

Electronics Information and Planning

The integrated circuit industries of India and the Republic of Korea in an international techno-economic context

Industry and Development

Dislodging the Multinationals: India's Strategy in Comparative Perspective

High Technology Industry in the Americas: Corporate Strategies and Government Policies

Predatory, developmental and other apparatuses: A comparative political economy perspective on the Third World state

Sociological Forum

Reinventing the bourgeoisie: State entrepreneurship and class formation in dependent capitalist development

American Journal of Sociology

Collectivizing capitalist accumulation: The social base of the development of Brazil's petrochemical complexes

Dependent Development: The Alliance of Multinational State and Local Capital in Brazil

State structure and state policy: Implications of the Taiwanese case for newly industrializing countries

Paths to participation in ‘hi-tech’ industry: A comparative analysis of computers in Brazil and Korea

Asian Perspective

Targeting the Computer