The Roles of Government in Incubating Internationally Competitive Industrial Clusters: The Case Studies of Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs) and Implications for Cambodia

Abstract

Abstract

The Roles of Government in Incubating Internationally Competitive Clusters: The Cases of Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs) and Implications for Cambodia

Siem Pichnorak

Graduate School of International Studies

Seoul National University

The importance of cluster effects on improving national competitiveness has been widely acknowledged and thus attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and policy makers. Amongst different actors, government has been recognized as one of the most important actor in the development of cluster, at least at the early stage of cluster evolution. In line with this argument, this thesis seeks to examine the important roles government could play in incubating internationally competitive industrial clusters and draw implications for the future development of industrial cluster in Cambodia. This thesis will be organized into three important discussions. The first discussion revolves around the necessary roles of government in incubating internationally competitive industrial clusters. Second, some implications in terms of the roles of government in incubating Daedeok Innopolis in South Korea and Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan (China) will be discussed. Drawing from the discussion on the roles of government in incubating competitive industrial clusters and the two case studies, the last part will discuss potential lessons from which Cambodian government could learn in terms of cluster development along with some policy suggestions.

Keywords: industrial clusters, government, public policy, Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs), national competitiveness, industrialization