Technology Development in Rural Industries

This is a study of the development and acquisition of technology by a group of small- and medium-sized rural industries in Sichuan province, China. The enterprises are mainly collective ones, but they are compared with other ownership groups, such as private and state enterprises. Rural industries have received special attention in the development economics literature for two reasons: they are part of industrialization, which constitutes the backbone of the development process, as well as part of the rural economy to which most of the populations of developing countries belong and where many are unable to make a living in agriculture any more. China has attracted attention for its radical rural collectivization policies in the first three decades after the communists came to power, as well as for its more market orientation thereafter and its relatively high growth rates, in particular of its rural industries. Technological change is increasingly being recognized in the economic literature as a pivotal factor of growth and development at the macro level, and of success of enterprises at the micro level. This study analyses technological development and acquisition in small-and medium-scale enterprises in a developing context, in a large Chinese interior province quite similar to many developing countries.