Professor Ron Johnston Australian Centre for Innovation Sydney, Australia Roundtable Key Tendencies on Future Trends that Affect the Competitiveness of Emerging Market Firms 7 September 2005 New Aspects of Global Competition

Stages of Globalisation  European colonisation –  British hegemony –  US Government dominance s  Global corporations take over (US, European and Japanese + Korea/Taiwan) – 1960’s-1990’s  New players – China, India, Brazil and many others

Outward Foreign Direct Investment by Emerging Countries  $1 trillion OFDI from emerging markets in 2004  7-fold growth from (2x ICs)  Now over 14% share of global OFDI  Foreign shares of assets, sales and employment in top 50 emerging TNCs same as world’s top 100 TNCs

The Big Uncertainties over Globalisation’s Progress  Steady growth within existing ‘rules’, or radical transformation of global trading, with new rules  Effects of global terrorism  Effects of global warming  Resource constraints  Collapse of existing global financial systems  New technological advantages  Effect of ‘big losers’- Africa

The Challenges of the Global Knowledge Economy  Increased competition, focused particularly on knowledge generation, knowledge interpretation and knowledge application  The capability to learn, and apply learning, to economic and social outcomes, is the basis of national viability and quality of life

One Consequence Knowing how to do things in isolation is not the decisive type of knowledge any more. Knowing how to work cooperatively towards larger goals, and to effectively communicate, become much more important

Growth in Investment in Knowledge Generation  OECD – growing at at 5% per year  New Asian Players –China 25% of US –Korea 8% of US –Taiwan 3% of US  Sum of Human knowledge doubled in past 8 years!  ‘Talent Wars

Rules of the Global Knowledge Economy - I What determines economic performance is not so much knowledge creation as the knowledge distribution power of a country, company or culture

Rules of the Global Knowledge Economy - II “What counts is knowledge of how to develop new knowledge, how to locate and acquire knowledge generated elsewhere, how to recognise connections between different pieces of knowledge, how to embody knowledge in goods and services – these are the challenge for the modern manager and policy-maker” (OECD)

Rules of the Global Knowledge Economy - III Knowledge is being transformed from an intellectual pursuit to a commodity in the global capitalist system. This leads to inevitable pressures for increased efficiency, productivity, outcomes and ownership, of knowledge.

Some Guidelines for Emerging Companies  Innovation  ICT enablers  Skills and Training  Organisational learning  Clustering  Internal teamwork/project orientation  Government as purchaser, supporter, networker, informer  Access to appropriate finance