Technological learning in Singapore: A test case of leapfrogging

Abstract

Some technology analysts have suggested that developing countries (DCs) might be able to ‘leapfrog’ earlier technological paradigms and catch up in the field of electronics. This paper provides a partial test case of the leapfrogging argument, using evidence from Singapore's electronics industry. It shows that technology was accumulated through a gradual process of learning, rather than by leapfrogging. Indeed, corporate learning was incremental, painstaking, long‐term and cumulative. Also in contrast with the leapfrogging hypothesis, firms tended to enter electronics at the mature phase of the product cycle rather than the early stage. Furthermore, much of the technology accumulated by Singapore's electronics industry was ‘pre‐electronic’ in character, involving crafts, mechanical and precision engineering, electro‐mechanical interfacing and basic manufacturing skills, rather than the software, computer and R&D skills usually associated with electronics. The evidence from Singapore suggests that industrial development in electronics involves a gradual and systematic accumulation of industrial, educational and infrastructural capabilities, many of which are associated with pre‐electronic technological paradigms.