THE RISE TO MARKET LEADERSHIP. NEW LEADING FIRMS FROM EMERGING COUNTRIES BY FRANCO MALERBA, SUNIL MANI and PAMELA ADAMS (ELGAR, 2017)
1. WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT
BRICS countries have taken over the global market in a variety of services, manufacturing and production industries. Governmental actions and policies have been instrumental and crucial in this process, allowing for an interplay between firms and the innovation systems. The articles in this book cover ICT, pharmaceutical and automotive case studies in Brazil, India and China. This book is even more interesting now, that a new Brazilian government has dropped most of the policies to support innovation, research and education, making the country loose its position in the global economy. Thus the authors’ conclusions on the importance of governmental action are reinforced by developments in 2019.
2. HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Authors in this collection have a background in the countries they study. Thus the book is illuminated by local insights which inform and guide theories and approaches of global validity, for instance national and sectoral innovation systems. The papers cover three main BRICS countries, Brazil, India and China and three main industries, pharmaceutical, automotive and ICT.
There is an unbalance in their approach, though, which makes it difficult a comparative approach. For India the three industrial fields are covered. But this is not the case for China, where ICT is missing. And neither is the case for Brazil where the pharmaceutical sector is missing. Moreover a very important field for the three countries, aerospace, is absent. The Chinese aerospace program, with astronauts and space stations, the Indian aerospace with missions to the Moon and to Mars, and the Brazilian aerospace with Embraer, are of gigantic importance and global game changers. These weaknesses may create issues with the authors’ conclusions and results.
3. HOW YOU CAN USE THIS BOOK
Malerba, Mani and Adams book is very useful. It describes, illustrates and analyses an interplay between firms’ innovation and governmental promotion and support of national and regions innovation systems. Even if the conclusions suffer from the lack of balance in the book, they are still valid, as the recent developments in Brazil demonstrate.
As such, this book should circulate beyond the study, research and academic communities. It is a more than useful reading and background material for policy makers. If there was any doubt that government matters, that governmental policies make a difference, they are dispelled by this book. The countries studied indicate that, given the different historical trajectory of each country, the national policies will be tailored differently. But they will still need to be there.
4. MY PITCH
The interplay between firms and national and sectoral systems of innovation have shaped how BRICS firms have successfully globalized. The articles on Brazil, India and China are solid case studies illustrating this. The chapters’ authors describe how founders of firms, entrepreneurs, developed existing networks to expand beyond the national markets to become key global players.
For the authors, innovation is taken as the processes, products and services developed by entrepreneurs. They provide data that clearly indicates how entrepreneus, supported by their governmental policies, articulate their networks to expand nationally and gain international markets. These networks could be based on local political connections, as was the case in China, or the immigrant networks and student links as was the case of Brazil. One reads explicitly and in between the lines, how entrepreneurs reduce their transaction costs to achieve their results. As such this book provided relevant data and analysis that support my own approach to innovation, ”the new element introduced in a network which reduces the transaction costs, or increase the value of transactions, between at least two nodes in the network.” As more detailed network analysis, including mapping the connections between nodes would increase the value of the studies here presented. In particular the automotive and the ICT Brazilian studies, which as the studies on India and China are of high quality, are very useful from and in this perspective.
5. WHAT IS NEXT?
There is no doubt that policy makers must read this book, particularly in line with the obvious consequences of the decisions of the current Brazilian government. So, open policy making seminars for Latin Americans based on this book could be an interesting follow up.
Moreover, the book calls for complementary research, as it is off balance. It is difficult to carry out comparative research and reach to conclusions when not all the three industries covered are represented for the three countries. Furthermore, a section on the aerospace industry would be of most interest since it is a major player in the three countries.
A network approach to innovation should also be considered, particularly given that the contributors describe quite well innovation networks in the three countries considered.
6. WHERE TO FIND IT?
The Rise to Market Leadership. New Leading Firms from Emerging Countries. Edited by Franco Malerba, Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Management and Technology and President of ICRIOS, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Sunil Mani, Director and Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, Indi; and Pamela Adams, Associate Professor of Management, The Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, US (Cheltenhamn, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2017). ISBN: 978 1 78347 678 7
https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/the-rise-to-market-leadership
7. HOW MANY CABRAL POINTS FOR THIS BOOK?
In a scale from 0 to 10, where ten is the absolute best, The Rise to Market Leadership. New Leading Firms from Emerging Countries by Malerba, Mani and Adams receives 7.0.
Review by Regis Cabral, 04 July 2019
1. WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT
BRICS countries have taken over the global market in a variety of services, manufacturing and production industries. Governmental actions and policies have been instrumental and crucial in this process, allowing for an interplay between firms and the innovation systems. The articles in this book cover ICT, pharmaceutical and automotive case studies in Brazil, India and China. This book is even more interesting now, that a new Brazilian government has dropped most of the policies to support innovation, research and education, making the country loose its position in the global economy. Thus the authors’ conclusions on the importance of governmental action are reinforced by developments in 2019.
2. HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Authors in this collection have a background in the countries they study. Thus the book is illuminated by local insights which inform and guide theories and approaches of global validity, for instance national and sectoral innovation systems. The papers cover three main BRICS countries, Brazil, India and China and three main industries, pharmaceutical, automotive and ICT.
There is an unbalance in their approach, though, which makes it difficult a comparative approach. For India the three industrial fields are covered. But this is not the case for China, where ICT is missing. And neither is the case for Brazil where the pharmaceutical sector is missing. Moreover a very important field for the three countries, aerospace, is absent. The Chinese aerospace program, with astronauts and space stations, the Indian aerospace with missions to the Moon and to Mars, and the Brazilian aerospace with Embraer, are of gigantic importance and global game changers. These weaknesses may create issues with the authors’ conclusions and results.
3. HOW YOU CAN USE THIS BOOK
Malerba, Mani and Adams book is very useful. It describes, illustrates and analyses an interplay between firms’ innovation and governmental promotion and support of national and regions innovation systems. Even if the conclusions suffer from the lack of balance in the book, they are still valid, as the recent developments in Brazil demonstrate.
As such, this book should circulate beyond the study, research and academic communities. It is a more than useful reading and background material for policy makers. If there was any doubt that government matters, that governmental policies make a difference, they are dispelled by this book. The countries studied indicate that, given the different historical trajectory of each country, the national policies will be tailored differently. But they will still need to be there.
4. MY PITCH
The interplay between firms and national and sectoral systems of innovation have shaped how BRICS firms have successfully globalized. The articles on Brazil, India and China are solid case studies illustrating this. The chapters’ authors describe how founders of firms, entrepreneurs, developed existing networks to expand beyond the national markets to become key global players.
For the authors, innovation is taken as the processes, products and services developed by entrepreneurs. They provide data that clearly indicates how entrepreneus, supported by their governmental policies, articulate their networks to expand nationally and gain international markets. These networks could be based on local political connections, as was the case in China, or the immigrant networks and student links as was the case of Brazil. One reads explicitly and in between the lines, how entrepreneurs reduce their transaction costs to achieve their results. As such this book provided relevant data and analysis that support my own approach to innovation, ”the new element introduced in a network which reduces the transaction costs, or increase the value of transactions, between at least two nodes in the network.” As more detailed network analysis, including mapping the connections between nodes would increase the value of the studies here presented. In particular the automotive and the ICT Brazilian studies, which as the studies on India and China are of high quality, are very useful from and in this perspective.
5. WHAT IS NEXT?
There is no doubt that policy makers must read this book, particularly in line with the obvious consequences of the decisions of the current Brazilian government. So, open policy making seminars for Latin Americans based on this book could be an interesting follow up.
Moreover, the book calls for complementary research, as it is off balance. It is difficult to carry out comparative research and reach to conclusions when not all the three industries covered are represented for the three countries. Furthermore, a section on the aerospace industry would be of most interest since it is a major player in the three countries.
A network approach to innovation should also be considered, particularly given that the contributors describe quite well innovation networks in the three countries considered.
6. WHERE TO FIND IT?
The Rise to Market Leadership. New Leading Firms from Emerging Countries. Edited by Franco Malerba, Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Management and Technology and President of ICRIOS, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Sunil Mani, Director and Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, Indi; and Pamela Adams, Associate Professor of Management, The Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, US (Cheltenhamn, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2017). ISBN: 978 1 78347 678 7
https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/the-rise-to-market-leadership
7. HOW MANY CABRAL POINTS FOR THIS BOOK?
In a scale from 0 to 10, where ten is the absolute best, The Rise to Market Leadership. New Leading Firms from Emerging Countries by Malerba, Mani and Adams receives 7.0.
Review by Regis Cabral, 04 July 2019
