Klaus Esser 
International Competitiveness in Latin America and East Asia 

First published in 1993. Latin America is undergoing a process of profound economic and social change. The industrial import substitution that continued for several decades was quantitatively successful in terms of industrialization but – like inward-oriented industrialization in the socialist countries – failed to raise the economies of the region to international productivity levels. The attempt at catch-up industrialization outside the reference frame of the world market led to economic stagnation, social crises, serious environmental degradation and the obstruction of social development. The following papers included in this book, show that the development of competitive advantages is initially determined by the new macro policy and by modernization at enterprise level.