Industrial Modernization Strategies and Programs

Michael Best has worked with numerous agencies and governments to develop country modernization strategies and to design and implement bottom-up programs for production upgrading and technology management. These include the George Soros Foundation in Albania, the Ministry of Finance in Estonia, United Nations Industrial Development Organization projects in Cyprus, Jamaica, Honduras, and Malaysia, the United Nations Development Program in India, the World Bank in Moldova, the Ministry of Economy in Slovenia, and the Northern Ireland Economic Council.

Examples include (other reports can be found in Professor Best’s
cv): Analysis of Estonian Business Structure and Competitiveness: Present Development and Future Development Challenges. Report prepared for the Estonian Ministry of Finance. Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute, May 2006, 97 pages (with John Bradley).

Malaysian Electronics: At the Crossroads. Vienna: United Nations Industrial Development Organization, October 2003, 84 pages (with Rajah Rasiah).
http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file%5fid=21305

The Capabilities and Innovation Perspective: The Way Ahead in
Northern Ireland. Belfast: Northern Ireland Economic Council, 2000,
115 pages.
http://www.niec.org.uk/documents/WayAheadInNorthernIreland.pdf

For a statement by the council see:
http://www.niec.org.uk/documents/CouncilStatement.pdf  

Comments by six experts on implementation of the above monograph titled ‘Implementation of The Capabilities and Innovation Perspective: The Way Ahead in Northern Ireland-Informed Commentaries’. Occasional Paper 15: March 2003. Belfast: Northern Ireland Economic Council, 73 pages.
http://www.niec.org.uk/documents/OCCASIONALPAPER15.pdf

“Production in Jamaica: Transforming Industrial Enterprises". In
Patsy Lewis (ed), Preparing for the Twenty-First Century: Jamaica
30th Anniversary Symposium (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle
Publishers, 1994) (with Robert Forrant) pp. 53 - 97. This paper
reports on modernization programs in the Jamaican furniture,
plastics, and metalworking industries. Available from the author.

"The Jute Diversification Project: Developing a Sector Strategy
Consistent with the New Principles of Production and Organization:
Report to the Government of India and the United Nations
development Program", September 1993, 48 pages (with William
Lazonick and Sukant Tripathy). Available from the author.

"Plastics in Massachusetts with Special Emphasis on the Merrimack
Valley" report to the Merrimack Valley Manufacturing Partnership,
Lowell, Massachusetts, 1994.