Competing in a Global Economy: An Empirical Study on Trade and Specialization

By: Robert Ballance and Helmut Forstner

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Synopsis: Global patterns of production and trade in manufactures have changed tremendously over the past two decades. The growth of world trade has been accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of products, suppliers and buyers involved in international markets. At the same time, the means by which manufacturers compete and collaborate have been changing. The great challenges that these developments pose for policy makers and practitioners provide the basic motive for this comprehensive assessment of the underlying forces and determinants that are reshaping the world's industrial map. Based upon an empirical approach, the analysis is closely interwoven with key elements of economic theory. the Heckscher-Ohlin model provides the framework for most of the book's interpretation, but less formal models focusing on economies of scale, product differentiation and other aspects of imperfect competition also figure prominently. The extensive research with access to UNIDO's vast body of unpublished information and contributions from specialists, has resulted in a blend of theoretical and empirical material which yields new insights into the way firms and industries compete in international markets.