Services vs. Hardware?
This chapter examines Spain’s and Korea’s upgrading strategies from the perspective of the telecommunications services and telecommunications equipment sector (henceforth information and communications technologies or ICT). The chapter emphasizes the link between the identities and preferences of Spain’s and Korea’s governments and characterizes two types of governments: generalists and techno-industrial. The two types of governments are connected to public preferences for upgrading in complex services and manufacturing respectively. The chapter consists of five sections. Following the chapter’s introduction, section 4.2 describes the forces shaping the transformation of the ICT industry in the 1980s and situates Spain’s and Korea’s firms. Sections 4.3 and 4.4 connect the characteristics of Spain’s and Korea’s generalist and techno-industrial governments to the two countries upgrading patterns. Section 4.5 sets the two outcomes in comparative perspective, concludes, and prepares the stage for the next chapter.