Introduction to the Volume

Abstract

The world is witnessing major changes that are taking place in the fields of technology, foreign direct investments (FDIs), trade and development strategies. These changes are likely to be different from those that the world experienced during the last few decades in particular, after many countries have adopted globalization of their economies. The rules of the WTO and the onset of the information and communications technologies (ICTs) drastically reduced transaction costs and encouraged locations of manufacturing units based on efficiency rather than tariff jumping investments. One of the consequences of the relocation of manufacturing units across the globe has been the decline of the manufacturing activities in the USA and Europe and the emergence of Asia as the main manufacturing base. This has triggered protectionist tendencies and anti-free trade and protest against WTO rules in several developed countries. Thus while changing technologies are aiding globalization, the political atmosphere in the USA and many European countries is antiglobalization and outsourcing. However, the host developing countries especially China and India, who have been attracting FDI in a number of industries and sectors, are trying to get the best out of the presence of the FDI through multinational corporations (MNCs). One of the immediate benefits that they witnessed in a variety of industries is the shift in technological paradigms. The papers included in the book will concentrate on the process through which technological paradigm and trajectory shifts take place, the factors that facilitate such shifts, the changing pattern of FDI and technological efforts, shifting focus of international trade and development strategies, mostly focusing on India.