The process of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) diffusion today is one of the major determinants of a country's economic growth and development. A greater understanding of the factors driving this is therefore critical in developing countries. Whilst the literature presents a range of potential factors that explain the difference in diffusion rates across countries, it is the relative level of economic development in one country compared with another that is cited most frequently. This would suggest that the diffusion of the telegraph and the telephone in Argentina should have been decidedly faster than in Mexico, given the former's significant inherent economic advantage throughout the period. This was not found to be the case. Instead, Argentina underperformed while Mexico outperformed, giving rise to an interesting historical episode which I dub the 'Double Paradox'. This unexpected result is verified via the application of the 'Flexible Logistic Growth Model' (FLOG) and linearisation techniques, which demonstrated that both technologies diffused at strikingly similar rates. The quantitative and qualitative analysis established that the 'Double Paradox' is best explained by the role and actions of the state, rather than the countries' economic development, or the intrinsic traits of the given technology. The findings showed that state action can act as a substitute to the otherwise commonly held prerequisites for fast diffusion, such as economic drivers, thus allowing for Gerschenkronian style catch up. Further investigation determined that Mexico's closed political system was supportive of successful diffusion while Argentina's more open, decentralised and quasidemocratic structure was not, indicating that the state can act as both a promoter and an inhibitor of diffusion. The thesis contributes to the literature on the comparative history of traditional ICT diffusion and growth. This is important both in understanding the economic history of developing countries, and because it has valuable implications for political planning in developing countries regarding future ICT diffusion. The thesis concludes that not only is the choice and implementation of the right reform paramount in inducing faster diffusion, but also the degrees of stability, autonomy and concentration of power within the state. In the discovery and examination of the 'Double Paradox', the overwhelming impact of the role of the state in the traditional ICT diffusion process is illuminated, which lays a framework from which to stimulate and develop further research.

The notion of catching up has its antecedents in historical studies on the industrial transformation of countries such as the Germany, the US and Japan. More recent studies have focussed on the NICs of Asia and Latin America. In a similar fashion, this study deals with issues of technological mastery by the developing countries (DCs) while ‘catching-up’ towards narrowing the ‘technology gap’ with the leaders. In doing so, the study asks specific questions about the nature and operational features of some purpose-built schemes such as ‘export processing zones’ (EPZs) and similar models aiming to promote technology transfers (TT) for the DCs via foreign investments, and focuses on the differential elements that made East Asian schemes distinct from the DC-models. In the context of the extensive literature survey dealing with similar models operating in the developed economies (DEs) known as ‘Technology Parks’ (TPs), the study observed conceptual and linguistic ambiguities between EPZs and TPs. One of the aims of this study was therefore to develop an unambiguous conceptual framework of ‘special technology infrastructure’ (STI) – a term introduced and used in this study to clarify and locate zones and schemes such as TPs, EPZs, IPs (Industrial Parks), SEZs (Special Economic Zones), etc. in the form of a STI-hierarchy. This research found that, although originated from IPs, TPs are clearly different from the EPZs in terms of their research orientation whereas EPZs show business-orientation at the time of their inceptions. The study found that in order to follow the East Asian pattern, a DC-EPZ needs to ensure its standard of operation similar as ‘business incubator’ while transitioning its orientation from business towards research. The empirical study concluded that a DC like Bangladesh has the potential to uplift the status of their EPZs to function like a TP due to the resemblance of EPZs’ standard of services to the ones provided by business incubator’ – seemingly a gateway to TPs. The chances of narrowing the technology gap was assessed to be higher due to: (a) the observed similarity of operations between firms in the EPZ and those in the domestic tariff area (DTA); and (b) the increasing share of capital intensive industries such as heavy engineering, automotives, etc. Drawing particular attention to the significance of the concept of ‘dated labor’ (workers with the latest know-whys) as postulated by ‘vintage growth models’, the study recommended that, in order to facilitate catching up, the country needs to uplift the national technological capability (TC) up to the level that would match the global standard and would: (a) enable workers to handle the latest technologies and machines; and (b) induce MNCs to not only carry on with their marketing research activities but also outsource innovation and design-related R&D activities in the EPZ-hosting countries. The study proposed further research on: (i) vintage models to revive and incorporate the concept of ‘dated labor’ in empirical studies focused on ‘catching up’ and ‘technology gap’ issues; and (ii) to improve our knowledge of the causal factors of technical progress as well as to overcome difficulties and weaknesses with their estimation procedures.

This thesis is divided into four parts. The first examines the social background of mineiro entrepreneurs and the source of their capital. The second assesses the structural development of mineiro firms. The third investigates the process of technology transfer in nineteenth-century Minas Gerais, the dependence of various firms on foreign technical knowledge, and the limits to the development of indigenous technology. The fourth examines capital-labour relations and the formation of the labour market in Minas Gerais. The objective of the research is to consider - and extend - the debate in the literature about patterns of development in backward economies. According to the "historical determinist" approach, the history of advanced countries traces out the road of development for less developed economies. Opposing this view, the "economic backwardness" approach points out that the development of backward countries differs considerably from the advanced countries in terms of the speed of development and the productive and organizational structures of their economies. This thesis uses the concept of "economic backwardness" to investigate the formation of a "spirit of capitalism" in Minas Gerais and how far the Brazilian economy was able to close the development gap with the more advanced economies. This thesis also contributes to the study of Brazilian economic history by looking specifically at the process of development of the state/province of Minas Gerais. The economic historiography of Brazil on the nineteenth century is heavily based on evidence drawn from S?o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and overlooks important socio-economic differences between the various sub-regions. As this thesis demonstrates, the rate and character of the development of Minas Gerais were to a large extent determined by its degree of backwardness, intellectual climate and natural potentialities, and accordingly the course of development of the mineiro economy differed considerably from process observed in more advanced countries. In addition, comparison between Minas Gerais, S?o Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro shows important differences among these three economies, mainly in sources of entrepreneurship and labour.

The aggregate behaviour of research expenditure has often been subject to fragmented and partial analyses embedded in wider questions in macroeconomic theory. I combine some of these approaches to create a unified framework under which the relationship between business cycles, economic growth and R&D expenditure can be analysed. In particular, I argue that while the inclusion endogenous technological progress in a classical dynamic general equilibrium model does not greatly improve its performance, it captures important features of the behaviour of research spending along the cycle. Then, using multiple data sources and levels of aggregation, I argue that existing theories of the cyclical pattern of investment in innovative activity are incomplete and propose a more general framework that ties together previous results in the literature. Finally, I develop a theoretical model that captures many of these features and makes additional predictions about the behaviour of research expenditure along the business cycle that can then be explicitly and formally tested.

This thesis is based on a focused ethnographic study of Northern Ireland's visual arts and theatre communities and endeavours to demonstrate attitudes towards entrepreneurship within these communities. It also investigates the potential for moving artists and arts organisations away from a culture of dependence 'on grants and subsidy to one of financial independence through entrepreneurial self-reliance. With around one third of all self-employed first degree graduates in the UK coming from creative arts disciplines, the thesis uncovers the current state of and attitudes towards an enterprise curriculum for visual arts and theatre students in Higher Education in Northern Ireland. A series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus groups was used to build understanding about the phenomenon of art entrepreneurship in its real life context and to identify the perceptions of government policy interventions designed to promote enterprise in Higher Education and build the local creative industries ecosystem. A sample pool of individual artists, arts administrators, students, beneficiaries of the Creative Industries Innovation Fund and educators was drawn from the disciplines of visual arts and theatre. The sample also encompassed representatives from arts and economic development agencies and appropriate government departments in Northern Ireland. The findings position the subsidised and commercial arts at the heart of the entrepreneurial creative industries ecosystem. Although some arts practitioners and leaders of non-profit arts organisations struggled to identify themselves as traditional economic entrepreneurs, many recognised the need to link artistic creations to markets and consumers in order to ensure the commercial viability of individual artistic practices and organisations. Interviews revealed income diversification, achieved through market, product and revenue diversification as key to commercially viable arts organisations and artistic practices. The thesis also identifies how Higher Education and policy makers might respond to current and future enterprise education needs among Northern Ireland's visual arts and drama students in order to enhance their individual and sector's economic potential.

Over the past 30 years, the Chinese economy has been going through complex transformation from a centrally planned towards a market economy. The reform of the enterprises has played an important part in this transformation. This is in addition to macro economy reforms, as well as changes in the institutional framework. The thesis examines the implications of macroeconomic, ownership structure, well as comprehensive institutional framework changes for Chinese enterprises' survival and R&D activities. I study the impact of both microeconomic factors and the macro economy on the financial distress of Chinese listed companies over a period of massive economic transition, 1995 to 2006. Using hazard regression analysis, I find substantial effect of firm level covariates (age, size, cash flow and gearing) on financial distress, but also significant roles for macroeconomic stability and institution effect. Business exits in my data on Chinese quoted firms are vanishingly rare, arguably because of active state protection for the failing firms. I investigate the firms' innovation activity and efficiency of different ownership sectors. Ownership influence on R&D investment and efficiency is estimated, using productivity frontier function, for a sample of large and medium size Chinese industrial enterprises from 2000-2007. I found that the presence of state ownership is positively related to R&D investment, but negatively related to R&D performance. Foreign firms are technical leader in Chinese industries and have advantage in R&D efficiency. My results also show significant cross industries differences in R&D effort and technical level. These point out that firms possessing more innovation resources and government support are not the ones performing better technically. I extend my study into a more general mixed duopoly model in which a wel- fare maximizing public firm competes with profit maximizing private firm in R&D. I assume that different operation strategy influence firms' tolerance of R&D spillover which plays a key role in their R&D investment mount and technology efficiency. I prove that public firm is more likely to share its R&D fruit and its higher R&D invest- ment is companied by lower efficiency. Overall, macroeconomy on firm survival and ownership structure on firm inno- vation activities are channels to understand Chinese economy reform. Because condi- tions in China were similar in many ways to other transition economies, these results provide important information about the process of economic transformation more generally.

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This thesis is an empirical inquiry into the nature of production functions of manufacturing establishments of France, India, Israel Japan and Yugoslavia. It uses the difference between the nature of economic and technical variables to review several forms of production functions in the literature. Fifteen production relations are selected for a cross section analysis of the data of each country. Various criteria of grouping the establishment data are examined. It is found that meaningful results can be obtained from mixed establishment data which can represent the manufacturing sector of a country. It is found that in international comparisons based on production function analysis, nations are more relevant than industries or groups of manufacturing establishments. The intrinsic features of the data are best revealed when the production relation contains at least one suitable economic and one suitable technical variable on the explanatory side. By grouping the data according to various criteria and applying statistical tests, it is shown that there is homogeneity between groups of establishments within each country and that this homogeneity is revealed in almost all cases when the grouping of the data is based on a variable which is not a dependent variable in the production relation used in the analysis.

The project topic developed in early 1998 as it emerged that there was a need for research into the area of children's multimedia in the UK. Research by others into the area of `generic' multimedia, products and technology, had been ongoing since the mid- I990s when the multimedia market started to develop rapidly. However, research focusing specifically on children's multimedia was lacking. Children's multimedia, which makes up a large share of the UK multimedia market, grew rapidly in the late 1990s as PCs, hardware, software and online use increased and related costs reduced in the UK. It was useful to study the children's multimedia market, as a leading edge example from the multimedia sector undergoing change, for publishing companies in other sectors learning how to develop their `businesses' for multimedia production. This sector was identified as an interesting, evolving and original area in which little was known about in terms of the market forces, consumer, company types involved, company activities and product features. The research analysed in depth the children's multimedia industry in the UK and the challenges and successes in adapting to change in this volatile market. Questionnaire surveys in 1998 and 1999 were used to obtain market and background information into the market situation and company activity (successful and otherwise). A Children's Multimedia Five Force model (developed from Porter's model (1980)) was designed to outline the key external forces affecting the strategic development of two company types, publishing and `new media companies' (companies set up in the 1990s for the purpose of producing solely multimedia), studied in the UK children's multimedia market. Interviews were undertaken in 1999 and 2000 with the successful companies identified in order to critically analyse both their internal and external activity and development. Internal activities, factors adding value, or contributing towards development which the companies studied either had or required, (in relation to product, structural, procedural, and strategic development) have been outlined in a Children's Multimedia Value Chain. This value chain was informed by elements of Porter's Value Chain model, and adapted versions of his original model by Vista International, and Diebold. This more detailed model has been developed with empirical evidence from a sample of successful children's multimedia companies. This seems to be the first study involving the development of models grounded in the reality of the developing and changing world of multimedia. The research also directly contributes towards projects and initiatives being encouraged by the European Commission and UK Government encouraging the growth and development of multimedia products and companies in the UK at the time of study. It also provides original insight into strategic change management in the publishing sector, and outlines analytical approaches which can be adapted or transferred to other publishing areas. The findings, particular to this children's multimedia market study, are intended to create interest in the model and to provide a starting point that can be further elaborated by researchers in other sectors of the publishing industry, or related areas such as the information, communications or `multimedia' industries. Other studies surveying the requirements of `children', `parents' or `educators' could potentially build on the findings of this research, which focused on the company and market situation. The modelling structures could also be developed or adapted to involve a more quantitative analytical approach - measuring costs, financial output and implications of multimedia production, which would develop this study which focuses on the core resources, skills, competencies and relationships within children's multimedia companies.