MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library



    State, Competition and Industrial Change in Ireland 1991-1999


    Ó Riain, Seán (2005) State, Competition and Industrial Change in Ireland 1991-1999. The Economic and Social Review, 35 (1). pp. 27-53.

    [img] Download (98kB)


    Share your research

    Twitter Facebook LinkedIn GooglePlus Email more...



    Add this article to your Mendeley library


    Abstract

    As job losses increased rapidly in 2003 amid calls for increased competitiveness, it becomes all the more crucial to understand the character and causes of such industrial upgrading that did occur in Ireland in the 1990s. This paper argues that despite a continuing reliance on foreign investment, there were significant elements of local industrial upgrading within the Irish economy in the 1990s. Contrary to perspectives which emphasise the learning effects associated with foreign firms, the paper suggests that such upgrading only emerged when and where local and national institutions were established to support relations of innovation and organisational development. The current difficulties in the Irish economy can be traced in significant part to the failure to deepen and extend this emergent system of innovation. The emphasis on 'competitiveness' in contemporary policy debate threatens to undermine the public investment, social relations and collective institution building that have been, and will continue to be, central to industrial upgrading in Ireland.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: State; Competition; Industrial change; Ireland; 1991-1999;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
    Item ID: 221
    Depositing User: Prof. Sean O Riain
    Date Deposited: 20 Jun 2005
    Journal or Publication Title: The Economic and Social Review
    Publisher: Economics and Social Studies, Dublin
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
      Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

      Repository Staff Only(login required)

      View Item Item control page

      Downloads

      Downloads per month over past year

      Origin of downloads