This paper analyses the business ties that Silicon Valley-based Indian technologists are building with the IT industry in their home country through a comparison with their Chinese counterparts, of both Taiwanese and mainland origin. In each of these cases the growth of cross-border technical communities is transforming the brain drain into 'brain circulation' , and providing a more flexible and responsive mechanism for promoting transfers of technology and skill than traditional foreign direct investment. However, while policy makers in Taiwan and mainland China have aggressively promoted and facilitated the institutionalisation of these transnational networks, the more hands-off approach of Indian policy makers appears to contribute to India's lower rates of return entrepreneurship.
References
1.
Arora, Ashish, V.S. Arunchalam, Jai Asundi and Ronald Fernandes (2001), 'The Indian Software Services Industry', Research Policy, 30 (8), pp. 1267-87.
2.
Chen, Ming-Jer (2001), Inside Chinese Business: A Guide for Managers Worldwide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
3.
China Software Association (2000), The Software Industry of China. Beijing: China Software Association.
4.
Dedrick, Jason and Kenneth Kraemer (1998), Asia's Computer Challenge: Threat or Opportunity for the United States and the World? New York: Oxford University Press.
5.
Ernst, Dieter (2000), 'What Permits David to Grow in the Shadow of Goliath? The Taiwanese Model in the Computer Industry', in Michael Borrus, Dieter Ernst and Stephan Haggard, eds, International Production Networks in Asia. New York: Routledge, pp. 110-97.
6.
Grieco, Joseph M. (1984), Between Dependency and Autonomy: India's Experience with the International Computer Industry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Guo, Yugui (2000), 'Graduate Education Reforms and International Mobility of Scientists and Engineers in India'. Proceedings of NSF Workshop, NSF 00-318.
9.
Heeks, Richard (1996), India's Software Industry: State Policy, Liberalisation and Industrial Development. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
10.
Hsu, Jinn-yuh ( 1997), 'A Late Industrial District? Learning Networks in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park'. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley.
11.
Jhunjhunwala, Ashok (no date), 'Can Information Technology Help Transform India?', Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (http://www.tenet.res.in/Papers/IT-Trans/ittrans.html ).
12.
Jhunjhunwala, Ashok, Bhaskar Ramamurthi and Timothy A. Gonsalves (1998), 'The role of technology in telecom expansion in India', IEEE Communications Magazine , 36 (11), pp. 88-94.
13.
Kogut, Bruce and Udo Zander (1993), 'Knowledge of the Firm and the Evolutionary Theory of the Multinational Corporation', Journal of International Business Studies, 24 (4), pp. 625-45.
14.
Krueger, Anne O. and Sajid Chinoy (2000), 'The Indian Economy in a Global Context'. Background paper, Conference on 'Indian Economic Prospects: Advancing Policy Reform', Centre for Research on Economic Policy Reform, Stanford University, 31 May-1 June.
15.
Lu, Qiwen (2000), China 's Leap into the Information Age: Innovation and Organization in the Computer Industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16.
Lu, Qiwen and William Lazonick (2001), 'The Organization of Innovation in a Transitional Economy: Business and Government in Chinese Electronic Publishing ', Research Policy, 30 (1), pp. 35-54.
17.
Mathews, John A. (1997), 'A Silicon Valley of the East: Creating Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry', California Management Review, 39 (4), pp. 26-54.
18.
Meany, Connie Squires (1994), 'State Policy and the Development of Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry', in J. Aberbach et al., eds, The Role of the State in Taiwan's Development. London: ME Sharpe.
19.
Mittal, Sunil B. (2000), 'Indian Telecommunications Perspective'. Paper presented at the Conference on Telecommunications Reform in India, Stanford University, 10 November.
20.
National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Science Resources Studies (1998), 'Statistical Profiles of Foreign Doctoral Recipients in Science and Engineering'. NSF 99-304 (Jean M. Johnson , author), Arlington, VA, November.
21.
Naughton, Barry, ed. (1997), The China Circle: Economics and Technology in the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong , Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
22.
Narasimhan, R. (1999), 'Deploying IT in India: The Need for a Larger Vision'. Lecture presented at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, 22 October.
23.
National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) (1999), Indian IT Strategies (Report prepared by McKinsey & Co.)New Delhi: NASSCOM.
24.
— (1999, 2000), The Software Industry in India: A Strategic Review. New Delhi: NASSCOM (http://www.nasscom.org).
25.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (1997), Information Technology Outlook. Paris: OECD.
26.
Parthasarathy, Balaji (2000a), 'Globalization and Agglomeration in Newly Industrializing Countries: The State and the Information Technology Industry in Bangalore, India'. Doctoral dissertation, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley .
27.
— (2000b), 'An Asian Silicon Valley in Bangalore? Evidence for the Changing Organization of Production in the Indian Computer Software Industry'. Mimeo, Indian Institute of Information Technology , Bangalore.
28.
People's Daily (2001), 'High Tech Industries are Attracting Overseas Students Back', 3 January.
29.
Portes, Alenjandro (1996), 'Global Villagers: The Rise of Transnational Communities ', The American Prospect, March-April, pp. 74-77.
30.
Romer, Paul (1993), 'Two Strategies for Economic Development: Using Ideas and Producing Ideas'. Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics 1992, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Washington, DC.
31.
Saxenian, AnnaLee (1994), Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
— (1999), Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California (http://www.ppic.org/publications/PPIC120/ppic120.abstract.html).
33.
Saxenian, AnnaLee (2000), 'The Silicon Valley-Hsinchu Connection: Technical Communities and Industrial Upgrading'. Discussion paper, Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research, Stanford University.
34.
Saxenian, AnnaLee and Chuen-Yueh Li (forthcoming), 'Bay-to-Bay Strategic Alliances: The Network Linkages between Taiwan and the US Venture Capital Industries ', International Journal of Technology Management.
35.
Schware, Robert (1992), 'Software Industry Entry Strategies for Developing Countries: A "Walking on Two Legs" Proposition', World Development , 20 (2), pp. 143-64.
36.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ( 2000), 'Report of K.B. Chandrasekhar Committee on Venture Capital '. SEBI, New Delhi (http://www.sebi.gov.in).
37.
Singaram, Kumaran (2000), 'The Asia Perspective with Focus on China'. Paper presented at Conference on Telecommunications Reform in India, Stanford University, 10 November.
38.
Sridharan, Eswaran (1996), The Political Economy of Industrial Promotion: Indian, Brazilian, and Korean Electronics in Comparative Perspective 1969-1994 . Westport, Connecticut: Praeger .
39.
The Economist (1999), 'Indian Business: Spice Up Your Services', 16 January. — (2000), ' Wired China: The Flies Swarm In', 22 July, p. 25.
40.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2000), World Investment Report 2000: Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions Development. Geneva: UNCTAD.
41.
US Embassy, China (2000), 'Science Spending Soars', Beijing Environment, Science and Technology Update, 8 December. (http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/english/sandt/estnews1208.htm).
42.
World Journal (1999), 29 August.
43.
World Bank (2000), World Development Report 2000. New York: World Bank .
44.
Yu, Guoqiang (2000), 'Chinese Immigrants in Silicon Valley and Innovation in China: A Case Study of Beijing Science Park'. Master's thesis, School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley.
