The Global Restructuring of the Steel Industry

Drawing upon case studies of the steel industry in the US, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and India, this book explains how and why the steel industry has shifted from advanced capitalist countries to late industrializing countries. Anthony P. D'Costa examines the relationship between industrial change and institutional responses to technological diffusion. He reveals the governments' and firms' differing responses to innovations lead to an uneven diffusion of technology and industrial reorganization. Moreover, when it becomes clear that existing institutional arrangements no longer serve the industry well, new arrangement are created which allow for innovative behaviour. Often this has created opportunities for technological 'leapfrogging' and the emergence of new technologies in unexpected places.