Electronics foreign direct investment in Singapore: a study of local linkages in “Winchester City”

Abstract

The paper examines the role played by foreign direct investment in developing local linkages in Singapore's electronics industry. Backward material linkages have developed as a result of two processes: the development of indigenous local suppliers, mostly within the fabricated parts sector, and foreign investment by overseas suppliers, especially in the hard disk drive sector. The economic development potential of these suppliers varies, and local suppliers in contract manufacturing offer the best hope for future indigenous growth within the supply base. Public policies targeted towards supplier development and upgrading the quality of multinationals play a significant role in facilitating local linkage development in Singapore. 197 Electronics foreign direct investment in Singapore Ross Brown

Foreign direct investment and local linkages: An empirical investigation

“…Indepth case studies of companies or industries provide some resolution to the limiForeign Direct Investment and Local Linkages vol. 47, 2007/1 tations of aggregate data studies by offering valuable insights as to the types of FDI, linkages and even the extent of upgrading of domestic firms (Barrow/Hall 1995, Brown 1998, Dunning 1998, Ivarsson/Alvstam 2004. But case studies fall short of providing definitive or representative evidence.…”

Foreign Direct Investment: A Catalyst for Local Firm Development?

“…As with New Zealand-based research, case studies of inter-firm linkages provide useful perspectives on the extent of involvement of foreign firms in local industry, but are typically limited to particular industries [Turok, 1993;Brown, 1998;O'Malley and O'Gorman, 2001], local sourcing [Ruane and Holger, 1997;Williams, 1999] or single firms [Barrow and Hall, 1995]. Some studies have taken a more comprehensive approach in their examination of inter-firm interactions [Rodriguez-Clare, 1996;Dunning, 1998;UNCTAD, 2001], particularly with respect to affiliate -supplier/subcontractor linkages [Poon, 1996;Raines et al, 2001] and type of FDI [Williams, 1997].…”

Growing Global: Foreign Direct Investment and the Internationalization of Local Suppliers in Scotland

“…While the industries have distinctive features, both have developed dense networks of manufacturer-supplier linkages in different parts of the world, such as Singapore (electronics) and the Stavanger region in Norway (oil-gas) (Brown, 1998;Haraldsen, 1998). The proposition put forward is that the propensity of local supply linkages to develop into international relationships will vary depending on the characteristics of the industry.…”