TECHNOLOGICAL LEARNING IN SINGAPORE - A TEST-CASE OF LEAPFROGGING

Some technology analysts have suggested that developing countries (DCs ) might be able to 'leapfrog' earlier technological paradigms and catc h up in the field of electronics. This paper provides a partial test c ase of the leapfrogging argument, using evidence from Singapore's elec tronics industry. It shows that technology was accumulated through a g radual process of learning, rather than by leapfrogging. Indeed, corpo rate learning was incremental, painstaking, long-term and cumulative. Also in contrast with the leapfrogging hypothesis, firms tended to ent er electronics at the mature phase of the product cycle rather than th e early stage. Furthermore, much of the technology accumulated by Sing apore's electronics industry was 'pre-electronic' in character, involv ing crafts, mechanical and precision engineering, electro-mechanical i nterfacing and basic manufacturing skills, rather than the software, c omputer and R&D skills usually associated with electronics. The eviden ce from Singapore suggests that industrial development in electronics involves a gradual and systematic accumulation of industrial, educatio nal and infrastructural capabilities, many of which are associated wit h pre-electronic technological paradigms.