How can smaller economies build globally competitive industries when they lack the scale and resources to compete in subsidy races or rely on trade barriers? Drawing on five case studies from Indonesia, Peru, Costa Rica, Chile and Viet Nam, Small Markets, Global Winners: Pathways to Competitive Industries Beyond Trade Distortions explains how businesses and governments built export industries that achieved lasting international competitiveness.
The paper identifies guiding principles for policy-makers and business leaders working to achieve comparable success. These include overcoming bottlenecks to firm growth, building local capabilities, creating a compelling business case for investment and, critically, sustaining public–private collaboration over time The case studies – which encompass industries from electronic vehicles through agro-exports, aquaculture, precision engineering to IT – offer practical insights into how emerging economies can turn local advantages into internationally competitive industries in an increasingly fragmented global economy.