Developing difference: Social organization and the rise of the auto industries of South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina

Theories of economic development as diverse as modernization, dependency, w orld-system, and market reform take a "critical factor" view. Proponents of each theory argue that countries fail to develop because of an obstacle to economic growth. We argue instead that neither a critical factor nor a sin gle path leads to economic development; viable paths vary. Economic growth depends on linking a country's historically developed patterns of social or ganization to the opportunities of global markers. We formulate a sociologi cal theory of cross-national comparative advantage including not only econo mic factor endowments bur also institutionalized patterns of authority and organization. Such patterns legitimize certain actors and certain relations hips among those actors, which facilitate development success in some activ ities but nos in others. We illustrate this approach to understanding devel opment outcomes with a comparative analysis of the difficult rise of the au tomobile assembly and components industries in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina.