International Production and Industrial Transformation: The Singapore Story

The expansion of global manufacturing value chains (GMVCs) as a major mode of economic globalization opens up opportunities for latecomer countries to industrialize and carve out niches to specialize within the value chain, instead of producing a good from start to finish within their national boundaries. However, whether this provides a pathway for self-sustained industrialization remains a debatable issue. Sceptics argue that, since multinational enterprises (MNEs), which are the ‘lead firms’ of GMVCs, dominate upper-end activities of the value chain such as product design, research and development, global marketing, and after-sales care and services, a country located lower rungs of the value chain has little room for industrial upgrading. This paper aims to contribute to this debate through an in-depth case study of industrial transformation over the past six decades in Singapore, the first country to embark on an MNE-led export-oriented industrialization strategy based on the prophetic foresight of unfolding opportunities for global economic integration within GMVCs. The findings suggest that, while Singapore had some country-specific advantages, it was hard-headed national development policy that was instrumental in transforming the country from ‘the third world to the first’ within a generation. The key general lesson from the Singaporean experience is that industrialization success within GMVCs requires embedding FDI promotion in a comprehensive national development strategy that makes the country an attractive location for international production and continuously monitoring and recalibrating the development strategy in line with evolving patterns of international production.