Trade-related Investment Liberalization under the WTO: The Malaysian Experience

( Rajah Rasiah ) 연세대학교 동서문제연구원 2005 Global economic review Vol.34 No.4

Does Firm Size Matter in Export, Technology, and Marketing Activities of Indian Garment Firms?

Rajah Rasiah,Kiranjeet Kaur,Ashish Kumar 기술경영경제학회 2010 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.18 No.1

This article examines statistical differences in export, technological, and marketing intensities between large enterprises (LEs), and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the garment manufacturing industry in India. Results show that SMEs enjoy higher export and research and development (R&D) intensities than LEs even after controlling for ownership, wages, and age. Compared with SMEs, LEs enjoy higher technological (including human resource and process technology) and marketing intensities even after controlling for ownership, wages, and age. Despite showing lower technological and marketing intensities, SMEs are characterised by a positive and strong relationship between their export intensity, and R&D and marketing intensities. Despite enjoying higher technological and marketing intensities, LEs show a modest relationship between their export intensity, and R&D and marketing intensities. Results also suggest that SMEs are more strongly integrated with the global garment value chains as outsourcing firms compared with LEs.

Export and innovation in Cambodian clothing manufacturing firms

Rajah Rasiah,Vignes Gopal,Puvanesvaran Sanjivee 기술경영경제학회 2013 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.21 No.2

This paper uses embodied measures of innovation with a focus on changes in machinery andequipment, material inputs and plant layouts and products to analyse the incidence ofparticipation and the relationship between exports and innovation intensity in Cambodianclothing firms. Contrary to claims that foreign cut, make and pack clothing operations areunlikely to stimulate innovation, this paper tests the industrial policy exponents’ argumentthat there is a positive relationship between exports and innovation (division of labour). Theresults show that Cambodian clothing firms show a strong participation in innovation; inaddition, the relationship between exports and innovation intensity is strong and positive. The positive relationship between exports, innovation and employment suggests that effortsshould be initiated by poor populous economies to stimulate technological upgrading evenin the lowest value-added segments of production.

Do contractors undertake more learning and innovation than multinational subsidiaries at least developed host-sites? A study of clothing firms in Cambodia

Rajah Rasiah,Vignes Gopal Krishna,Kurunathan Ratnavelu 기술경영경제학회 2015 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.23 No.3

This paper seeks to test the argument that contractors introduce significant learning andinnovation activities comparable more or than integrated multinational clothing producers atleast developed host-sites. This follows from recent developments in the theory ofmultinationals that lead firms are increasingly abandoning peripheral innovation activitiesthat are characterised by low value added operations to focus on branding and associatedR&D activities. Any such development will offer opportunities for contract manufacturers,both national and foreign owned, to upgrade and specialise in innovative activities related tomanufacturing at distant host-sites as the brand holders at major markets will then specialiseon product R&D and design, and branding activities. The results from tobit regressionsshow that contract firms show higher process technology and innovation capabilities (ICs)than integrated firms in the clothing industry. Hence, there is econometric evidence tosupport the argument that changes in manufacturing offers tangible opportunities forcontract manufacturers in global value chains to upgrade into cutting-edge processes andtechniques, and ICs.

University-Industry Collaboration in the Automotive, Biotechnology, and Electronics Firms in Malaysia

Rajah Rasiah,Chandran Govindaraju VGR 서울대학교 경제연구소 2009 Seoul journal of economics Vol.22 No.4

This paper seeks to examine existing explanations of drivers of university-industry collaboration. The Probit regression results support prevailing theory on the importance of R&D intensity, partner diversity and access to wider channels of information matter for university-industry collaboration. However, categorizing size as a dichotomous dummy variable of SME and large firms showed an inverse relationship, while actual employment size was not statistically significant. Size was inversely correlated with university-industry collaboration. Separate Probit estimations for the specific industries of automotive, biotechnology and electronics indicate the following as the important drivers. First, R&D intensity, importance of university as a source of knowledge and age were important in automotive firms. Second, R&D intensity, channels of R&D information and R&D partner diversity were important in biotechnology firms. Third, the channels of R&D information and R&D partner diversity were important in electronics firms. Size was statistically significant in automotive and electronics firms but the coefficients were negative when a dummy was used and not statistically significant when the actual employment was used. Closer examination showed higher university-industry collaboration means among medium size firms.

University–industry collaboration and technological innovation: sequential mediation of knowledge transfer and barriers in automotive and biotechnology firms in Malaysia

Hema Subramonian,Rajah Rasiah 기술경영경제학회 2016 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.24 No.1

Technological Innovation (TI) is a critical outcome of innovation systems. Previous studieshave investigated the drivers of university –industry (U – I) collaborations without looking atrelationships and their influencing factors. This paper fills this gap by examining U – I linksin the automotive and biotechnology sectors in Malaysia. The exercise produced three keyresults. Firstly, there was a significant but negative association between perceived importanceof universities and firm-level TI, which indicates that firms have used universities inMalaysia less than their perceived importance. Secondly, the results demonstrate that thesequential effect of knowledge transfer (KT) channels and perceived barriers fully mediatethe relationship between universities and TI. Firms that regard universities as important toTI also placed emphasis on KT channels and barriers. While professional recognition andadvancement depend on being first to disclose and publish research results, industrialinnovation relies heavily on secrecy. Thirdly, the perceived importance of universities whenviewed together with KT channels and perceived barriers, explains and predicts firm-levelTI, which was significantly different in the two sectors. Furthermore, automotive firmsreported higher perceived importance of universities than biotechnology firms in research,teaching, and entrepreneurship.

Understanding innovations in Malaysia’s construction industry: a study of four large national firms

Yean Fang Chang,Rajah Rasiah,Wai Meng Chan 기술경영경제학회 2016 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.24 No.3

Little published work exists on innovation in construction, which is not helped by the diverse setof activities that characterise the industry. The early attempt to category sources of innovation inthe industry depicted it as a supplier driven industry using large data sets from secondary sources. Given the lack of profound firm-level research in the industry, this paper uses four case studies ofnational firms in Malaysia to examine innovation in the industry. The evidence shows that majorinnovations in these firms evolve as a crystallization of project demand that drives firms to seekexternal sources of knowledge that is adapted to meet the construction demand of clients. Indoing so two firms demonstrated radical innovations as its diffusion has transformedconstruction in Malaysia. The remaining two firms are engaged in incremental engineeringactivities. Also, innovations in two firms were led by their own managements, while theremaining two were supplier-led. In addition, while innovations in all four firms arecharacterised by re-conceptualisation of foreign sources of knowledge, innovation in one firminvolved architectural designing and another modularisation. A blend of institutionsconstituted by government policy, in-house command, trust and collaborative practices,markets, and industry standards have shaped these innovations.