Abstract
Only few developing countries have succeeded to adapt themselves to industrialization and penetration of information/communication technology in the past several years. As a result, gaps between countries in industrialization and economic growth are still increasing. Analysis of data relevant to the performance in industrial development shows that only a limited number of countries has achieved domestic innovation in combination with introduction of foreign technologies ; many developing countries lack their own high-tech capabilities, and supplies labor-intensive products only. Foreign investment cannot trigger a sound growth without prospects of autonomous developments, along with training and education systems for that purpose. Most of the lower-ranked countries have failed to implement any effective policy in this regard. The competitive industrial performance index (CIP) ranking of countries has shown little changes in the past 13 years (1985-98), except that some middle-ranked countries (China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand) have rapidly improved their positions, owing to their participation to the global market activities through multinational enterprises.
