Learning in Local Systems and Global Links: The Otigba Computer Hardware Cluster in Nigeria

Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

No 2006-007, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests to the fact that poor countries are unlikely to be host to a “high-technology” sector and doing so within the organization of small and medium enterprises. This paper examines an unusual phenomenon of industrial organization in an African setting; the emergence of a cluster of an information technology hardware cluster in a very late industrializing country, Nigeria. The evolution of the Otigba Computer Hardware Village (OCV) in Lagos, Nigeria has proceeded largely without direct support from the state and indeed within a decidedly hostile institutional and arid infrastructural environment. Yet the cluster has thrived, thus far, with institutional support of a local trade and manufacturing association. The study holds important lessons for late industrializing countries entering into a knowledge intensive sector.

Keywords: learning; innovation system; computer hardware; clusters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 L63 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2006007

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