Innovation and SME internationalization in Korea and Latin America and the Caribbean: Policy experiences and areas for cooperation

Economic relations between the Republic of Korea and Latin American and the Caribbean have expanded rapidly since 2000. Bilateral trade in goods increased more than fivefold, while the region has also become an important destination for Korean foreign direct investment. The region’s interest in Korea also stems from this country’s successful economic and social development experience, as it developed from being one of the poorest countries in the world to a high-income economy within less than six decades. To better understand the divergent trends in Korea and the region, this document reviews…

Regional integration and public policy. Evaluation of the European experience and possible implications for Latin American integration

Ciencia y tecnología en el Arco del Pacífico Latinoamericano: espacios para innovar y competir. Sexta reunión ministerial del foro del arco del pacífico latinoamericano

El objetivo del documento Ciencia y tecnología en el Arco del Pacífico Latinoamericano: espacios para innovar y competir es diagnosticar las capacidades de ciencia, tecnología e innovación, y su importancia para la competitividad, de los países que componen el Arco del Pacífico Latinoamericano (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá y Perú) —denominado como países del Arco en lo restante de este documento—, y la región de Asia-Pacífico, identificando espacios de cooperación internacional de transferencia tecnológica y de co…

Alicia Bárcena llamó en Foro Económico Mundial sobre América Latina a generar nuevos pactos en la región para retomar el crecimiento y reducir la desigualdad

La Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, instó hoy a los países de la región a generar nuevos pactos políticos y sociales para retomar la senda de crecimiento económico -apuntalando la inversión y diversificando la matriz productiva- y combatir la persistente desigualdad social, que describió como “uno de los grandes flagelos de la región, que conspira contra todo”. Durante una sesión del Foro Económico Mundial sobre América Latina 2017 que se realiza en Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bárcena señaló que “si queremos tener futuro, tenem…

Digital infrastructure for the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Korea

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a significant share of the exports of the Republic of Korea, in large part thanks to the sophisticated digital support infrastructure available to these firms. This document analyses how the government implemented this infrastructure over the last decades in close coordination with the private sector. It also presents the prominent institutions and their digital SME export support instruments. Lastly, it identifies some future challenges and recommendations for Latin America and the Caribbean.…

Opportunities for convergence and regional cooperation: Unity Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean

En comparación con el período 2003-2007, que fue el más favorable de la economía mundial y regional en 40 años, el futuro presenta mayores desafíos. A principios de la próxima década, tanto la economía como el comercio internacional serán menos dinámicos, habrá mayores tensiones competitivas y presiones proteccionistas, así como más dificultades de acceso al financiamiento. El contexto global posterior a la crisis estará marcado por la desaceleración del crecimiento, las elevadas tasas de desempleo en las economías industrializadas y la necesidad de restaurar la sostenibilidad de las cuentas p…

Analysis of trade flows between Puerto Rico and CARICOM and prospects for integration

Puerto Rico and Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Caribbean countries share important common characteristics. They are open economies and while their trade specialization patterns are heterogenous, historical, institutional and geographical factors have shaped export and import linkages that are closely tied to those of the United States and Western Europe. CARICOM Caribbean economies and Puerto Rico also adopted, early on, a common approach to development, that of 'industrialisation by invitation'. Its main elements included fiscal incentives, the attraction of foreign direct investmen…

Module for the analysis of growth in international commerce (MAGIC Plus): user guide (updated)

The Module for the analysis of growth in international commerce (MAGIC) is a computer program created by the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico for post-trade analysis of the competitiveness of countries’ exports to the United States market. The new version, MAGIC Plus, handles multiple windows or reports simultaneously, includes exports and imports up to 2010, generates different types of interactive graphics, allows easy administration of user profile options, enables the user to include, modify and eliminate groups of countries and features options to print, create graphics, generate …

Global value chains and world trade: Prospects and challenges for Latin America

Scant empirical evidence is available on how the Latin American and Caribbean region participates in global value chains (GVCs) and what drives this process. Frequent questions in this connection are: How has the spread of information and communications technologies and free trade agreements facilitated the region’s participation in GVCs? To what extent do small firms participate in GVCs? What learning mechanisms and production and technological feedbacks operate in different types of GVCs? How can countries and firms take advantage of upgrading processes in GVCs? What role do policies play to…

The Singapore success story: public-private alliance for investment attraction, innovation and export development

Singapore has been touted as a success story in the development literature.1 Various theories (Haggard and Kaufman, eds., 1992)2 have been offered to explain how and why the city-state has succeeded, but none of them has received unanimous approval. There is no debate on the success itself, what is at issue is how that success came about and how it has been sustained. For many it is a combination of the right policies and timing; for some, exploitation of a strategic position in the region; and for even others, a one-party dominant political system that allows for consistency in decision-maki…

Creative industries in the Caribbean: a new road for diversification and export growth

Creative industries have become a new engine of growth and development in the world economy. This dynamic sector, which ranges from traditional arts to multimedia, has been an important driver of innovation and productivity growth. The present study argues that the creative industries can become a pillar for economic diversification and export growth in the Caribbean. The study adds to the developing literature on the creative sector by evaluating export performance in the context of constraints as well as opportunities. The Caribbean creative sector possesses a number of advantages that are r…

Latin America’s faltering manufacturing competitiveness: What role for intermediate services?

This document contributes to the scarce empirical literature on the role of services as a source of manufacturing competitiveness in developing economies, providing evidence on the Latin American region. The 2018 release of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database is used to assess the servicification of manufacturing exports in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru) between 2005 and 2015, in comparison with ten Asian emerging economies (eight ASEAN countries (Brunei Daruss…

Korean OFDI: investment strategies and corporate motivations for investing abroad

International flows of capital in the form of foreign direct investment have become an important means of promoting economic development in many countries. The spread of globalization and the activity of transnational corporations have been driving forces behind these flows have already been adequately analyzed. An important new phenomenon of recent decades is the rapid increase in the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) flows from developing countries. Much less attention has been paid to outward investment by developing countries, mainly because it was negligible until recently.OFDI fro…

Chinese Investments in Latin America: Opportunities for growth and diversification

China has become the third largest source of FDI in the world, only behind the United States and Japan. Chinese outward FDI continues to grow every year, but inflows into Latin America have remained stagnant since the year 2010 when a large wave of acquisitions introduced many Chinese companies to the region. They also remain very concentrated on the extraction of natural resources and in a handful of countries. Slower growth in China, and lower commodity prices may force some Chinese companies to change their strategy and start looking for overseas markets in new sectors, particularly in serv…

Technological change and opportunities for development as a moving target

This article puts forward an interpretation of development as a process of accumulation of technological and social capabilities dependent upon taking advantage of successive and different windows of opportunity. These windows are determined from the core countries, through the technological revolutions which occur every half-century and the four phases of their deployment. The possibilities of progressing at each opportunity depend on the achievements made in the previous phase, on identifying the nature of the next one, understanding the techno-economic paradigm of the revolution in question…

62° Conferencia Mundial del International Council for Small Business (ICSB)

La 62ª Conferencia Mundial del ICSB, que se celebrará en Buenos Aires es una importante oportunidad de aprendizaje ya que la experiencia y la investigación sobre emprendimiento e innovación en el contexto de las PYMES serán discutidas, intercambiadas y compartidas por académicos y profesionales de todo el mundo. Durante la Conferencia, la Cepal participará con una ponencia magistral de Mario Cimoli, Director de la División de Desarrollo Productivo y Empresarial, en la sesión plenaria del día viernes 30 de junio y además coordinará dos sesiones de debate con expertos internacionales los días 28…

Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL expondrá sobre la situación de la región en el Foro Económico Mundial 2017

La Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, participará esta semana en diversas sesiones del Foro Económico Mundial 2017, en las que abordará temas como las relaciones comerciales entre América Latina y el Caribe y China, la estrategia regional para alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) y los desafíos que enfrentan los países de la región en materia de productividad y gobernanza de los recursos naturales, por nombrar algunos. El encuentro anual del Foro Económico Mundial (WEF, por sus siglas en inglés) tendrá lugar …

Digital transformation of SMEs for cross-border trade and e-commerce in the Republic of Korea: insights for Latin America and the Caribbean

The rapid evolution of digital technologies has reshaped global business, forcing not only large but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to embrace digital trade. Nevertheless, many SMEs are struggling to fully implement digital technologies. Against this backdrop, the Republic of Korea has bolstered its support for SMEs, with a focus on human capital development, financing, and research and development. Furthermore, the country has revised its trade regulations and frameworks, placing significant emphasis on digital capacity-building and the alignment of regulations with internatio…

Strategies for Post COVID-19 Recovery in the Caribbean

Sesión "Competitividad: Visión de organismos regionales" del Foro de Competitividad de las Américas III