Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
advanced product-centred and process capabilities are more
common and links with external sources of technology are
stronger and more frequent. Similarly, attributes of innovation-
oriented organizations (i.e. regional capabilities) are also much
sounder in Jalisco, including human resource formation, basic
and applied research, government initiatives and private organi-
zations' support.
The two studied regions offer a clear illustration of the different
trajectories of development and types of global-local interac-
tions in terms of indigenous capability building. While foreign
MNEs active in Baja California seem to act mostly as
enclaves
,
in Jalisco foreign subsidiaries have active relationships with
other firms and local organizations, and have entered a virtuous
circle of rising technological capabilities. Spurred by strategic
innovation and technology policies designed at the local level,
the process of cumulative causation involving MNE subsidiaries
as a major actor has stimulated the upgrading of technological
capabilities and of the regional knowledge base as a whole. In
turn, higher local capabilities have attracted more technologically
advanced foreign activities.
A few critical implications can be drawn from the case study.
First, in line with the theoretical literature, FDI should be seen
as a complement to, and not a substitute for, local efforts to
develop technological capabilities. The attraction of FDI in high-
technology industries is not a sufficient condition to develop
advanced regional technological capabilities. On the one hand,
the presence of MNE subsidiaries does not guarantee technol-
ogy transfer, and on the other the absorption and assimilation of
imported technology is not a passive activity; rather it demands
large, continuous and concerted efforts from all components of
the regional system. Second, this illustrates that, for developing
and emerging regions with FDI-led industries, more than invest-
ing on one or another critical asset, it is rather the combination
and integration of all of them that is key to achieving stronger
regional technological capabilities. Finally, the importance of
idiosyncratic social structures and historical paths cannot be
overlooked when considering learning processes and knowl-
edge generation and accumulation mechanisms across space.
Indeed, Jalisco and Baja California show very different historical
paths. The first region includes old colonial cities dating from the
