Fostering Clusters in the Malaysian Electronics Industry: Comments

Author
Castilla, L. Miguel
Date
Nov 2005
This presentation comments on Rajah Rasiah's paper Fostering Clusters in the Malaysian Electronics Industry. The document covers a brief summary of the paper's main findings, a series of comments and suggestions, and lessons from the Malaysian experience and from clusters in the Andean region. Rasiah's paper examines the agglomeration-oriented initiatives in Malaysia, especially policies to promote clustering in electronics manufacturing. Main hypothesis tested are that Penang and Kelang Valley faced different sets of state-level instruments and exhibited different performance and technological deepening indicators. Dimensions evaluated include: local government coordination (systemic synergies), interfirm linkages (local firms & TNCs), and clustering. This presentation was prepared for the Latin America/Caribbean and Asia/Pacific Economics and Business Association (LAEBA)'s 2nd Annual Meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 28th-29th, 2005.