Capitulo 10 La Ventaja Competitiva De Las Naciones

10
THE COMPETITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES
I have explored, one by one, the pattern and evolution of industrial success in a number of leading trading nations. What is clear is that, like industries, national economies are anything but static. There have been striking changes in the pattern of internationally successful industries in many nations since World War Il, Upgrading in aneconomy is the movement toward more sophisticated sources of competitive advantage and toward positions in higher-productivity segments and industries. Such a process supports rapid overall productivity growth. Some national economies have shown a remarkable rate of upgrading. Other nations have experienced greater difficulty in sustaining the upgrading process, and their productivity growth haslanguished. As one examines the postwar development of the nations as a group, some basic forces seem to have been propelling change. At the same time, some characteristic impediments to upgrading reappear.
My purpose here is to extend my theory to consider the national economy as a whole, and provide some ways of thinking about how entire national economies progress in competitive terms. Whilethe basic unit of analysis in understanding national advantage is the industry and industry cluster, the nature of competitive advantage achieved by many of a nation's industries tends to evolve together. This occurs for reasons I will describe.
Nations can be seen as differing in the stage of competitive development in international terms achieved by their industry. The stages represent one wayof abstracting the upgrading process in a national economy. Each stage involves different industries and industry segments as well as different company strategies. The stages also differ substantially in the appropriate array of government policies toward industry.
The stages will provide a framework with which we can examine the postwar development of the nations as a group. They serve as onemeans of interpreting the considerable amount of information about each nation that i have presented. The stages, and the requirements of moving among them, will also serve as a useful foundation for my discussion of company strategy and government policy.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
It is a considerable understatement to observe that there has been a great deal written on economic development andthe broad question of how an economy progresses. The literature emphasizes such questions as how an economy moves from agrarian to industrial to postindustrial, and the changing attitudes and institutions that accompany such development.

My concern here is with a different and somewhat narrower set of questions. Economic prosperity depends on the productivity with which national resources areemployed. The level and growth of productivity are a function of the array of industries and industry segments in which a nation's firms can successfully compete, and the nature over time of the competitive advantages achieved in them. Economies progress by upgrading their competitive positions, through achieving higher-order competitive advantages in existing industries and developing thecapability to compete successfully in new, high-productivity segments and industries. Trade, in which exports from productive industries allow imports of products that could be produced in the nation only at lower productivity, is essential to the upgrading process. So is foreign direct investment that shifts less productive activities abroad or that allows high productivity industries to betterpenetrate foreign markets.
A nation's industries are either upgrading and extending their competitive advantages or are falling behind. The mutual reinforcement of industries within clusters means that the upgrading process tends to spread. Attaining higher-order competitive advantage in one industry often helps other industries upgrade. Part and parcel the upgrading process is loss of position in...