Korea's development process offers valuable lessons for other developing and less developed economies. In particular, the way Korea uses outside technologies, by accumulating indigenous capabilities, is still valid in the era of the knowledge economy. This volume examines the Korean model and Korea's march toward a knowledge economy from a poverty-ridden economy before the launch of full-scale industrialization in the early 1960s. It also emphasizes Korea's achievements, as well as remaining tasks within the four pillars of the knowledge economy, with a common theme throughout -- how Korea has narrowed the gaps in its knowledge and institutions in global competition with world leaders.
Korea is a country with limited natural resources, which has developed through a strategy of industrialisation and the economies of scale. However this is being challenged by the rise of knowledge as a principal driver of competitiveness. This book is the result of a joint study by the OECD and the World Bank to develop a comprehensive set of national policy responses to the knowledge revolution. It concentrates on four areas: 1) an institutional and economic regime that provides incentives for the creation of new knowledge and its efficient use; 2) an educated and entrepreneurial population; 3) a dynamic information infrastructure; 4) an efficient system of innovation.
Divided into three parts, this volume covers industrial restructuring in Southeast Asian economies, restructuring in Asia's newly industrialized economies, and industrial restructuring in the two large Asian economies.
This edited volume offers a comprehensive survey of Korean education in transition. Divided into three parts, the book first assesses the current state of Korean education. It examines how the educational system handles the effects of family background and gender in helping students smoothly transition from school to the labor market. Next, the book introduces growing concerns over whether the traditional model of Korean education can adequately meet the demands of the emerging knowledge-based economy. It examines features of new reform measures that have been introduced to help Korean education prepare students for the new economy. The third part discusses how an influx of diverse migrant groups, including marriage migrants, migrant workers, and North Korean migrants, and the rising divorce rate — two major demographic changes— challenge the fundamental assumption of cultural homogeneity that has long been a part of Korean education. This detailed analysis of a society and educational system in transition will appeal to a wide range of readers, from those involved with Korean education to educators and administrators in countries currently looking for ways to handle their own economic and demographic changes.
Based on the success of the World Scientific publication “Governing and Managing Knowledge” edited by Thomas Menkhoff, Hans-Dieter Evers and Chay Yue Wah in 2005, this unique volume presents 16 new theoretical-practical papers on the strategic aspects of developing knowledge-based economies with case studies from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Uzbekistan. A key question which the book seeks to answer is what Asian policy-makers and leaders in government, economy and society can do to further enhance learning and capability formation so as to foster sustainable development in an increasingly globalized world. It addresses the politico-cultural and socio-economic challenges of effectively managing both knowledge resources and coping with the great digital divide created by globalization, continuous technology innovations and rapid external change. A key objective of the publication is to enable latecomers in the knowledge race to understand some of the critical success factors of sustainable knowledge-based development and what it takes to build a resilient knowledge-based economy.
During recent decades, Korea has been one of only a handful of countries that have made the successful transformation to become a developed nation by simultaneously achieving persistent economic growth combined with a democratic political system. Experts and political leaders worldwide have attributed this achievement to investments in people or, in other words, the power of education. Whilst numerous books have highlighted the role of industrial policies, technological growth, and international trade in Korea’s development process, this is one of the first to focus on the role of human capital. It shows how the accumulation of human capital aided transformation and helps explain the policies, strategies and challenges that Korea faces now and in the future.
South Korea has attained spectacular economic success in recent decades. It has reached the status of a Newly Advanced Economy, with challenges increasingly mirroring those faced by other advanced economies. These include the necessary upgrading of the labor force, the frictions of switching to a national system of innovation adapted to leadership in R&D, market-based economic policies that reflect the government’s difficulties in foreseeing future technological developments, and the consequences of social change for the innovation system and policy-making. In the forthcoming book the parallel challenges for innovation and technology for the Republic of Korea and other advanced economies will be analyzed more thoroughly with an international perspective in mind. This comparison and international benchmarking will allow policy makers and scholars to better appreciate how much the country has already moved into the circle of globally leading economies and what can be done to consolidate and strengthen its position.
This book addresses how economic spaces dynamically change within the context of the global knowledge-based economy. Specifically, it centers the discussion on integrated views of understanding and conceptualizing dynamic changes of global economy under the global megatrends of globalization, knowledge-based economy, information society, service world, climate change, and population aging. Focusing on East Asia, especially on Korea, it deals with case studies regarding the processes and patterns of these global dynamics, looking at economic spaces of various spatial scales and types of economic actors. This book develops a theoretical model for understanding and analysing the dynamics of economic spaces that are being reshaped within the larger global economy. It also emphasizes the analysis of empirical studies at the level of firm, region, and state by considering an evolutionary perspective over time. In developing its theoretical framework, this book examines regional resilience, intangible assets, service innovation, path dependence, and other notions related to the evolution of economic spaces, and incorporates these elements into real-world case studies. The integrated theoretical framework examined here contributes a new perspective on spatial disparities in the global economy. An integral model of service innovation; the integration of path dependence and regional resilience; the interaction between firm and region for the accumulation of intangible assets; and the roles of governments and global firms: these are all essential to understanding the dynamics of economic spaces in East Asia. The theoretical model and case studies in this book suggest policy implications for developing countries, especially in the Asian and African regions, with regard to regional development and innovation policies.
The evolution of the information and communciations technology (ICT) paradigm is shifting the basis for economic activity from material and labour inputs to knowledge and information inputs, spawning the knowledge-based economy. In East Asia, it is evident that the emergence of the knowledge-based economy is disrupting the flying-geese pattern of development and creating a new industrial geography. This book gives a picture of the shifting industrial geography in the region based on accounts of the status of the knowledge-based economy in ten individual East Asian economies. For some economies the increased production of ICT equipment and services is the pathway to the knowledge-based economy and even to leapfrogging ahead of more advanced economies. Other economies are focused on putting in place the physical and institutional infrastructure to connect to electronic networks and avoid the digital divide. For yet others, the emergence of the knowledge-based economy is expanding their role in the region, adding the role of ICT hub.
This book promotes the creation of advanced knowledge-based economies driven by innovation networks and the continuous development of human capital and capability. It provides valuable insights into the growing emergence of knowledge-based industries of the Asia Pacific, and highlights research on: modes of creativity and innovation; intellectual property; the components of national innovation systems such as firms, education and training; knowledge and technical infrastructure; and public policy. The Asia Pacific region is currently in the process of transforming from being the manufacturing centre of the global economy to a centre of innovation for the knowledge economy, with the successful IPO of Alibaba in 2014 being a prime example of this shift. From a neo-Schumpeterian perspective, the region is increasingly engaged in shortening and intensifying cycles of innovation. The historic agreement at the Beijing APEC meeting between China and the US to radically reduce carbon emissions indicates that one imperative of this innovation is to contribute to sustainability. The fact that the US Government is moving away from this historic commitment, while the Chinese Government is endorsing the commitment, indicates an emerging opportunity for Asia to lead the world technologically in a vital industrial sector of the future.
