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The main purpose of this study is to see the effects of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on a firm's innovation performance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The objective of this study is twofold: First, it aims to analyze the impact of ICT applications on firms' innovative behavior and whether firms using ICT applications more intensively are also more innovative. Second, and more essentially, it assesses empirically the impact of ICT applications on firms' innovative performance in sub-Saharan African countries by using instrumental variable probit model. Therefore, we used data from the 2013 enterprise survey (Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS)). According to our results, the most important ICT tools are emails and using the internet for online sales. Firms who have IT Teams are not creating any difference; however, if a firm purchase or develop in-house any software then they are more likely to produce innovation than the other firms.

Purpose – This chapter addresses the participation of women (or lack of it) in industrial research and development (R&D), one of the key indicators of innovation.

Methodology/approach – The empirical investigation is based on a sample of 84 science- and technology-based small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), engaged in new product development and innovation, operating in the United Kingdom.

Findings – The results demonstrate that the participation of women in R&D employment, particularly at senior levels, in the SME sector operating in England, is extremely low, partly attributed to some specific challenges faced by science and R&D-based SMEs. As a result of under-representation in the scientific research, women are missing out on the opportunities that are offered by ‘open innovation’ activities such as university–industry collaboration, access to external networks, exchange of knowledge and ideas and working on joint innovation projects with other scientific researchers elsewhere.

Research limitations/implications – There is a need for more rigorous research at firm levels to examine the cumulative effects of factors that could be translated into policy measures in order to attract more women to industrial research.

Practical implications – Specific policy measures should also focus on addressing barriers faced by SMEs to meet the specific needs of their female R&D employees, particularly those expecting or looking after young children while undertaking scientific research in laboratories.

Social implications – There is a need to raise a greater awareness and promote the take-up of numerous specific positive action measures, networking platforms and other promotional activities amongst women working in the private sectors, particularly those working in isolation in laboratories.

Originality/value of chapter – The findings are, fundamentally, based on an original and unique database. Women in industrial R&D is relatively a new topic of policy and research and their participation in R&D team within the science and technology-based SMEs in England has not been investigated before.

Whether like the sociologist, Herbert Marcuse, or the novelist Simone de Beauvoir, we see technology primarily as a means of human enslavement and destruction, or whether, like Adam Smith, we see it primarily as a liberating promethean force, we are all involved in its advance. (Freeman, 1974, p. 15)The initial idea informing this first ISBE Book Series was sparked by the proliferation of policy and research focused upon (a) the minority status held by women in scientific activities and discoveries around the world, (b) identifying and addressing some persisting personal, professional and institutional barriers that have continued to prevent women from entry and progression within the scientific fields and (c) attempting, but without much success, to find solutions to fix the leaks in the various joints of the so-called science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) pipeline in order to remedy the current situation.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (2017, pp. 14–15) identified that “industrialization is the seedbed for entrepreneurship, business investment, technological progress, the upgrading of skills, and the creation of decent jobs.” This placed studying different industrial sectors and their respective clusters, which are key drivers for economy, innovation, and knowledge creation (Slaper, Harmon, & Rubin, 2018), at the forefront of research. This chapter tackles the automobile industrial cluster in Egypt that possesses promising potential yet faces some challenges. It aims to provide an overview of the cluster, alongside underpinning its strengths and obstacles facing it. Moreover, the chapter displays the importance of the labor dimension in increasing the labor competitiveness of the cluster and showcases this through two cases of German automobile manufacturers that pioneered in venturing into the market through employing technical and vocational education and training. In conclusion, recommendations are provided to help in steering the cluster toward success.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

The concept of Industry 4.0 emerged in Germany in 2011 for the first time causes production processes to be increasingly interconnected and to be more effective owing to its economic and social benefits. The structure of international trade is getting changed due to Industry 4.0. Manufacturing sector is one of the leading sectors in international trade. Manufacturing sector which has remarkable share of exports brings up against significant challenges aiming to competitively design and manage modern products, which are changing and accelerating the complicated multi-domain systems. That producing is more innovatively due to advantages provided by Industry 4.0 impact, positively international trade. The reason is that use of advanced robotic machines and automatization in production process reduces labour costs and thus increases competitiveness of a country in the international markets. The aim of this study is to exhibit a theoretical framework between the digitalization and international trade and to examine how Industry 4.0 impacts international trade in Turkey.

While traditional Industry 4.0 is studied in the context of smart factories, the authors study it as a metaphor that represents the spill-over effects of digitalisation, high-speed internet, cloud-based super-computing on industry, countries, human resource development and national competitiveness. This chapter analyses the Industry 4.0 steps taken by the United States, Germany, South Korea and India. It compares strategic actions taken by these countries using a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis to understand the position of each country. The authors use Max Weber’s ideal types as a positivist frame of analysis for the country-level data and from this draws policy recommendations. Based on the current status of India and other countries, the chapter concludes by suggesting short-term, mid-term and long-term strategies to transform India into a highly competitive industrialised economy in the context of the fourth industrial revolution.

Building industrial clusters is getting much more political attention and strategic orientation in all developing countries. This study started by revising the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for industrial clusters, followed by some insights and contributions about empirical bases for clusters' dynamics and processes. The study focused on the case of Agadir Agreement between four Arab countries (Egypt, Jordon, Morocco, and Tunisia), which was initiated after the Euro-Mediterranean partnerships, and the rationale of the agreement was based on the concept of cumulative value-added origin. The study based its methodology on analyzing the international and bilateral trade flows of six industrial goods from the automotive sector among the four countries and with the EU countries to detect the degree of industrial collaboration and the achieved success of each country in this sector. The study indicated that the four countries used the concept of industrial clusters for economic development, but the results of the analysis showed that till now Agadir Agreement only achieved a shallow integration, while failed to deeply integrate as one big collaborative industrial cluster.