Industrial Development in the EU: Lessons for the Future Member States (original) (raw)

Industrial Development in the EU: What Lessons for the Future Member States?

The paper analyzes the main characteristics and major changes in manufacturing industry in the old EU member states over the past twenty years, in order to draw some lessons for the Southeast European economies in transition, often referred to as the Western Balkans (WBs) -Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. During the last twenty years the more developed EU member states have experienced substantial changes in the structure of their economies, with services becoming the prevalent sector in terms of the most important indicators. Nevertheless, there is great heterogeneity within the EU regarding the contribution of manufacturing to employment and value added. The global financial and economic crisis from late 2008 onwards has revived the debate about the role of industry, its importance for economic growth and for international competitiveness. In this context, there has also been a renewed interest in industrial policy and reindustrialization. The ongoing analysis of trends in the EU could be extremely relevant for the WB countries, since these countries have gone through a process of strong deindustrialization. Given that their level of economic development is still low, manufacturing industry remains indispensable for future economic growth. The EU experience could offer useful guidelines for formulating future policies in this area.

Challenges of industrial development of Serbia

Panoeconomicus, 2009

Built upon education ideologies of the previous century, development of Serbian industry is not able to meet global demands of the modern, 21st century market. Innovative ongoing processes in technology and all industrial branches are global and ever more rapid, and they are circumventing the SEE region. The economic structure of Serbian industry at the beginning of transition was two decades old. At the beginning of 2009, after eight transition years, a short economic transition summary is as follows: the trailing caused by the events of the 1990s is very hard to cope with and we are only half through with this task; on the other hand, we are lagging behind EU-15 and EU-10 more and more. Apart from the analysis of structural non-adjustment of the industrial system and its impact on the macroeconomic balance, the paper underlines a significant role of the state in the formulation of industrial policy.

The Integration of Western Balkan Industries into the EU Internal Market: Recent Trends in the Trade of Manufactured Goods

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2014

The EU accession process of the Western Balkan countries has been accompanied by a major increase in commodity trade with the EU Member States. Consequently, the EU has become the most important trading partner of the Western Balkan countries, but exports from the Western Balkans have been mainly based on low value-added products (resource-and labor-intensive ones). This chapter sets out to analyze changes in the dynamics and pattern of trade in products of the manufacturing industry between the Western Balkan region and the EU over the past couple of years. Particular attention has been paid to changes that occurred in the wake of the recent global economic crisis. For the purpose of analysis, the data on commodity trade provided by Eurostat has been used. Based on the results of this analysis, we have concluded that the region, as a whole, continues to specialize in the export of labor-intensive products, such as garments and footwear, and resource-intensive products, such as metals and wood. When more sophisticated goods, such as machinery and transport equipment, are considered, an increase in the volume of exports, as well as their share, can be observed. It also seems that some of the countries are specializing in the production and export of certain types of machinery and transport equipment, but we could not observe a common regional pattern.

Competitiveness and Developmental Trends of the New Industrial Policy of the Republic of Serbia

Facta Universitatis. Series: Economics and Organization, 2015

The achieved level of economic development determines the degree of industrial development in one country. The aim of this paper is to identify the key determinants of the new industrial policy of Serbia, in the context of European integration processes. The same is based on the analysis of strategic documents of Serbia and the European Union, governing the industrial development for the period up to 2020. Particular attention is paid to the monitoring of developmental dynamics and trends in improving industrial competitiveness. It has been noted that the achieved level of industrialization defines the industrial competitiveness of a national economy. Serbia needs an efficient, industrially competitive economic structure that will be able to meet the growing demands and challenges of the market. Only a properly designed and consistently applied industrial policy can follow the European developments in the future.

Contemporary Trends in the Development of Industry in the World and Serbia

8th International Conference "Economics and Management-Based on New Technologies" EMoNT-2018 25-28 June 2018, Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia, pp. 86–93., 2018

The authors offer a view on the current state of industry and contemporary tendencies in its development in Serbia and the world. Particularly, this academic paper analyzes the state of Serbian industry, which collapsed at the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century, after having gone through three waves of industrialization. Serbian economy and industry have not recovered from deindustrialization even after two decades of unsteady development in the current century. Lastly, it presents some possibilities to revitalize the industry and achieve its harmonious development.

Effects of technological changes and trade liberalisation on industrial development in the Western Balkan Countries Effects of technological changes and trade liberalisation on industrial development in the Western Balkan Countries

Economic Research-Ekonomska istrazivanja, 2020

The transition process in the Western Balkan Countries (W.B.C.) is followed by efforts focused on modernisation and industrial manufacture growth. However, industries in these countries are still under the pressure of the need for restructuring and the rules of an open market. Opening towards the world and transferring new technologies are related processes. Although they are of the same importance, adoption of new technologies is a process which is more demanding than trade liberalisation process. Technological and trade openness pander to other factors of development and contribute to higher efficiency of investments. Industrial manufacture growth spurs economic growth. Furthermore, share of industrial production in G.D.P. as dependent variable represents the scope and quality of industrial development. The hypothesis is that the share of industrial production in G.D.P. is affected by: Technological readiness, Manufacture value added and Merchandise trade as well as Gross investments and Innovations. Results of panel analysis indicate that Technological readiness, Manufacture value added and Gross investments have positive and significant impact on industrial development. Negative coefficient of merchandise trade liberalisa-tion in the panel model implies slowdown of industrial development , and one of the reasons is continuously high merchandise trade deficit in W.B.C. ARTICLE HISTORY

From command to market-driven economy: the changing role of manufacturing industries in Romania

HUMAN GEOGRAPHIES – JOURNAL OF STUDIES AND RESEARCH IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2021

In 1990, Romania and other CEE countries embarked on a political shift that prompted radical structural and spatial changes in economic activities. Industrial restructuring holds a central role in strengthening both EU convergence and internal socioeconomic divergence. The aim of this paper is to discuss the contribution of manufacturing to national wealth creation, the attractiveness of industries to foreign direct investments, and the evolutionary trajectories of manufacturing employment and firms in conjunction with the pathways taken at the level of the national economy. To attain this aim, we analyse in detail the period between 2002 and 2019, looking at the temporal dynamics of the industry in times of growth and crisis. The changes discussed are typical of economic restructuring, with regions and urban centres experiencing a dramatic change in their economic roles and functions and increasing inequalities between metropolitan and non-core regions.

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH – AN OBJECTIVE NECESSITY FOR THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF BULGARIA

A number of empirical studies have acknowledged the special properties of manufacturing as an engine of growth such as: dynamic economies of scale in manufacturing; strong backward and forward linkages between manufacturing and other sectors of the domestic economy; strong properties of learning-by-doing; innovation and technological progress; and the importance of manufacturing for the balance of payments. Nowadays many developed countries (the USA, the UK, France, etc.) are pursuing reindustrialization as they are aware of the costs of deindustrialization: external deficits and indebtedness; lowering of the skill level of jobs; decline in potential growth. The paper looks at the process of deindustrialization which Bulgaria underwent during the economic transformation and the current state of the country’s industrial competitiveness. It is argued that reindustrialization is an objective necessity for the needed sustainable catching up development and has to be fostered by a proper industrial strategy.

A New Paradigm of Industrial Policy of the Republic of Croatia in the Process of Accession to the European Union

“Now more than ever, Europe needs industry and industry needs Europe” (COM, 2010). Although today the service sector accounts for over 50% of GDP in most countries, the majority of these services are directly or indirectly connected to industry. The significance of manufacturing industry was additionally reaffirmed by the most recent global financial and economic crisis. Therefore, it is not surprising that over the last few years political leaders have been calling for a new industrial policy which is against deindustrialisation. Acceleration of the rate of technological advancement and preconditions for efficient participation in globalisation are difficult to realize and, in many countries, this renders their ability to compete more difficult. As the European integration becomes stronger, the effectiveness of national economic policies decreases. A new industrial innovation policy (so-called ‘ manufutur’ ) must ensure a much faster development and commercialisation of goods and services, which will put EU enterprises in the leading market position. In addition to many problems it had in the past, contemporary Croatian industry has been dealing with outdated technology and lack of interest in technical sciences among young people; concentration of capital, knowledge and activities in the No. 1 region in the country which is North-western Croatia; lack of national industry vision and strategy, as well as lack of financial means necessary for investments into the ‘new industry’. It becomes imperative to create and implement an adequate industrial policy which has to be the result of a comprehensive analysis of the relevant, past and future, industrial factors, but, in doing that, it is important to take into consideration the limitations of the EU, as well as limitations at the level of the Member States.