Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Wignaraja, Ganeshan
Author-Email: wignaraja@commonwealth.int
Author-Workplace-Name: Export and Industrial Development Division, Commonwealth Secretariat 
Title: Firm Size, Technological Capabilities and Market-Oriented Policies in Mauritius 
Abstract: Mauritius is an outlier in Sub-Saharan Africa for its impressive manufactured
	 export performance based on garments since the adoption of market-oriented policies
	 in the early 1980s. Little, however, is known about the role played by internal
	 technological factors on the exporting behaviour of enterprises of different size
	 classes in the Mauritian garment industry. Using recent methodological developments
	 in the literature on industrial technological capabilities, this paper explores
	 this issue by constructing a technology index and conducting econometric analysis
	 on factors affecting enterprise-level technological development and export
	 performance in a sample of Mauritian garment enterprises. The econometric results
	 show that firm size, technical manpower, training expenditures and external
	 technical assistance are positively related to the technology index. This confirms
	 that investments in human capital and seeking information, both facilitated by
	 size, improve technological performance. This is strengthened by the fact that the
	 technology index and foreign ownership have positive and statistically significant
	 effects on export performance of each firm. The technology index is a robust tool
	 of empirical research and can be used to analyse the technological record of
	 enterprises in adjusting developing countries. 
Keywords: Textile Industry, Competitiveness, Government Policy, Mauritius 
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 2001
Number: 1
File-URL: http://www.intech.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/2001-1.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 244 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:200101