Export-oriented Industrialization and Technological Frames: Evidence from a Mechanization Project in India

• In Event: 255 - Section on Economic Sociology Paper Session. Market Processes and Economic Lives in the Era of Neoliberalism

Abstract

Export-oriented industrialization (EOI) is a common strategy for economic development in developing economies that can be achieved by increasing exports in large manufacturing sectors or smaller-scale, cluster-based industries. A key component of the EOI strategy, whether in the context of large- or small-scale production, is technological upgrading of manufacturing practices to facilitate exports and boost worker earnings. While the literature has recognized the salience of technological upgrading, it has focused predominantly on successful cases, thus overlooking problems in the implementation and adoption of such technology that could impede exports. In this paper, I draw on an ineffective export-driven mechanization initiative in a handicraft cluster in southern India to illustrate how key stakeholders might adopt incompatible “technological frames” in making sense of new technology, thus hindering the expansion of exports. I describe how government officials in this case viewed the technology brought into the sector through the frame of “status,” workers perceived the technology using a “creative control” frame, whereas capitalists saw the same technology as being a source of “profits.” These mismatched frames led to discordant actions by the stakeholders, resulting in limited adoption of the technology, weak exports and little improvements in worker earnings. By highlighting a key condition under which export-driven technology projects might fail, namely when key stakeholders’ technological frames are misaligned, this paper draws important implications for the many developing economies using EOI as their primary industrialization strategy.

Author

• Aruna Ranganathan, Stanford University