Capturing Value amidst Constant Global Restructuring? Information-Technology-Enabled Services in India, the Philippines and Kenya

Jana M. Kleibert () and Laura Mann ()
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Jana M. Kleibert: Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS)
Laura Mann: London School of Economics and Political Science

The European Journal of Development Research, 2020, vol. 32, issue 4, No 11, 1057-1079

Abstract: Abstract Information-technology-enabled services (ITES) has become a sector of promise for many low- and middle-income economies seeking to leapfrog industrialization and build knowledge-intensive economies. Yet as a sector defined by accelerating processes of commodification and skill elimination, its long-term developmental promise must be carefully scrutinised. Analysing the development of the sector in India, the Philippines and Kenya the paper reveals both the contextual nature of past successful ITES policies and their developmental vulnerabilities. Drawing on literature on industrial policies and global value chains and production networks, the paper critiques the existing policy approaches by arguing that they are largely focussed on enabling value and employment creation and that they pay insufficient attention to questions of value capture and long-term socio-economic transformation.

Keywords: Services; Information-Technology-Enabled Services (ITES); Business Process Outsourcing (BPO); Kenya; India; the Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00256-1

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