IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pas/papers/2017-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Manufacturing exports from Sri Lanka: opportunities, achievements and policy options

Author

Listed:
  • Prema-chandra Athukorala

Abstract

This paper examines Sri Lanka's experience with manufacturing exports expansion, placing emphasis on opportunities and policy priorities in a rapidly changing global context in which global production sharing has become the prime mover of cross border production and trade. There is compelling evidence that liberalization reforms initiated in 1977 helped transform the classical export economy of Sri Lanka inherited from the colonial era into a one in which manufacturing plays a significant role. Were it not for the civil strife and inconsistent macroeconomic policies that adversely affected the investment climate, export performance would have been much more impressive. In a context in which factors of production -- capital, technology and marketing and managerial knowhow--are increasingly mobile across national boundaries within production networks, the nature of the existing manufacturing base is not a prerequisite for export diversification. Trade-cum-investment policy reforms can set the stage for the emergence of exporting firms de novo. In sum, the findings make a strong case for redressing policy backsliding and continue with the market-oriented reforms agenda that was left incomplete in the late 1990s, and set up institutional safeguards to avert further backsliding.

Suggested Citation

  • Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2017. "Manufacturing exports from Sri Lanka: opportunities, achievements and policy options," Departmental Working Papers 2017-03, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2017-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://acde.crawford.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publication/acde_crawford_anu_edu_au/2017-04/2017-03_athukorala_sl_export_12april2017.docx_.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernando, Mario & Almeida, Shamika, 2012. "The organizational virtuousness of strategic corporate social responsibility: A case study of the Sri Lankan family-owned enterprise MAS Holdings," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 564-576.
    2. Cornelia Staritz, 2011. "Making the Cut? Low-Income Countries and the Global Clothing Value Chain in a Post-Quota and Post-Crisis World," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2547.
    3. Kanchana N. Ruwanpura & Neil Wrigley, 2011. "The costs of compliance? Views of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers in times of global economic crisis," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(6), pages 1031-1049, November.
    4. Athukorala, Prema-chandra, 2014. "How India Fits into Global Production Sharing: Experience, Prospects, and Policy Options," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 10(1), pages 57-116.
    5. Helpman, Elhanan, 2011. "Understanding Global Trade," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674060784, Spring.
    6. Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Rajapatirana, Sarath, 2000. "Liberalization and Industrial Transformation: Lessons from the Sri Lankan Experience," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(3), pages 543-572, April.
    7. Premachandra Athukorala, 1995. "Foreign Direct Investment and Manufacturing for Export in a New Exporting Country: The Case of Sri Lanka," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 543-564, July.
    8. Peter C. B. Phillips & Bruce E. Hansen, 1990. "Statistical Inference in Instrumental Variables Regression with I(1) Processes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(1), pages 99-125.
    9. Paul R. Krugman, 2008. "Trade and Wages, Reconsidered," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 103-154.
    10. Kelegama, Saman & Foley, Fritz, 1999. "Impediments to Promoting Backward Linkages from the Garment Industry in Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1445-1460, August.
    11. H. Schmitz & P. Knorringa, 2000. "Learning from Global Buyers," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 177-205.
    12. Gereffi, Gary, 1999. "International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-70, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jayasinghe, J, H. E. & Dilara, W. M. T. & Rodrigo, M. Y. N. & Jayasekara, J. W. C. D & Ilangasekara, A. S. P. & Ilangasekara, S. D., 2021. "Evaluating Dimensions of Customer Loyalty in B2C Market of Freight Forwarding Firms in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(12), pages 881-891, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prema†chandra Athukorala & Raveen Ekanayake, 2018. "Repositioning in the global apparel value chain in the post†MFA era: Strategic issues and evidence from Sri Lanka," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 247-269, March.
    2. Prema-chandra Athukorala & Raveen Ekanayake, 2014. "Repositioning in the Global Apparel Value Chain in the Post-MFA Era: Strategic Issues and Evidence from Sri Lanka," Departmental Working Papers 2014-17, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    3. Prema‐chandra Athukorala, 2019. "Joining Global Production Networks: Experience and Prospects of India," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 14(1), pages 123-143, January.
    4. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2017. "Global Productions Sharing and Local Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: Evidence from Penang Export Hub, Malaysia," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 180-194, May.
    5. Ramesh Chandra Paudel & Swarnim Wagle, 2017. "Export performance and potential with regional partners: The case of a landlocked LDC, Nepal," Departmental Working Papers 2017-06, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    6. Annelies Goger, 2013. "From Disposable to Empowered: Rearticulating Labor in Sri Lankan Apparel Factories," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2628-2645, November.
    7. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2006. "Outward-oriented Policy Reforms and Industrialisation," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 1(1), pages 19-49, April.
    8. Epede, Mesumbe Bianca & Wang, Daoping, 2022. "Global value chain linkages: An integrative review of the opportunities and challenges for SMEs in developing countries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5).
    9. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    10. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-496 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Plank, Leonhard & Rossi, Arianna & Staritz, Cornelia, 2012. "Workers and social upgrading in "fast fashion": The case of the apparel industry in Morocco and Romania," Working Papers 33, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    12. Islam, Md. Saidul, 2008. "From pond to plate: Towards a twin-driven commodity chain in Bangladesh shrimp aquaculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 209-223, June.
    13. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He, 2016. "Global and local governance, industrial and geographical dynamics: A tale of two clusters," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1453-1473, December.
    14. Pham, Hanh Song Thi & Petersen, Bent, 2021. "The bargaining power, value capture, and export performance of Vietnamese manufacturers in global value chains," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6).
    15. Prema-chandra Athukorala & Tala Talgaswatta & Omer Majeed, 2017. "Global production sharing: Exploring Australia's competitive edge," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(10), pages 2172-2192, October.
    16. Mike Morris & Leonhard Plank & Cornelia Staritz, 2016. "Regionalism, end markets and ownership matter: Shifting dynamics in the apparel export industry in Sub Saharan Africa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(7), pages 1244-1265, July.
    17. Paulina Ramirez & Helen Rainbird, 2010. "Making the connections: bringing skill formation into global value chain analysis," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(4), pages 699-710, December.
    18. Tilman Altenburg & Wilfried Lütkenhorst, 2015. "Industrial Policy in Developing Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14726.
    19. Staritz, Cornelia & Morris, Mike, 2013. "Local embeddedness and economic and social upgrading in Madagascar's export apparel industry," Working Papers 38, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    20. Nakhoda, Aadil, 2013. "The impact of the exports of BRIC countries plus Turkey on the exports of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 52477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Navas-Alemán, Lizbeth, 2011. "The Impact of Operating in Multiple Value Chains for Upgrading: The Case of the Brazilian Furniture and Footwear Industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1386-1397, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    manufacturing exports; global production sharing; foreign direct investment; Sri Lanka;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2017-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Prema-chandra Athukorala (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/asanuau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.