Introduction
Automotive industrialization in East Asia exhibits striking cross-national variation in both strategy and performance. China, Korea, and Taiwan have pursued “intensive” growth strategies, increasing local value added based on domestic inputs and capabilities. Malaysia has attempted to follow this strategy, but without success. In contrast, Thailand has relied on foreign assemblers and their principal suppliers to become a champion of “extensive” growth, resulting in an impressive expansion of production, assembly, and exports. Latecomer Indonesia has followed Thailand with some success, whereas the Philippines has remained an automotive backwater. This variation reflects the broader environment shaping the firm capacities of firms: (1) intensive growth poses particularly difficult policy challenges; (2) more difficult policy challenges require stronger institutions; and (3) institutions that promote upgrading emerge to the degree that political pressures compel national regimes to address external threats and domestic unrest absent easy access to resources necessary to do so.