The political economy of high-tech industries in developing countries: aerospace in Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa

This paper explores the dynamics of high-tech industrialisation in three emerging countries with sub-regional power ambitions in the peculiar case of aerospace. The focus of the analysis is on the interaction between economic and political factors, at both the domestic and the international levels. The three (initially) state-owned firms show diverging fortunes that reflect differences in the ability to align the ownership structure to the financial requirements of technological upgrading, to adopt modern management practices, to participate actively in the internationalisation of global supply chains, and to garner the support of domestic interest groups.