Table Of ContentINTERNATIONAL SERIES OF MONOGRAPHS IN
LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
Vol. 1. WHITE—Bases of Modern Librarianship
Vol. 2. ANTHONY—Sources of Information on Atomic Energy
Vol. 3. BLAUG—Economics of Education
Vol, 4. SAUNDERS—The Provision and Use of Library and
Documentation Services
Vol. 5. CAMPBELL—Metropolitan Public Library Planning Throughout
the World
TECHNOLOGY FOR
UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
An Annotated Bibliography
BY
J A CK B A R A N S ON
PERGAMON PRESS
OXFORD · LONDON · EDINBURGH · NEW YORK
TORONTO · SYDNEY · PARIS · BRAUNSCHWEIG
Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford
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Pergamon Press (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., 20-22 Margaret Street, Sydney, N.S.W.
Pergamon Press S.A.R.L., 24 rue des Écoles, Paris 5^
Vieweg & Sohn GmbH, Burgplatz 1, Braunschweig
Copyright © 1967
Pergamon Press Inc.
First edition 1967
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67-14273
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY A. WHEATON AND CO. LTD.,
EXETER AND LONDON
3169/67
I N T R O D U C T I ON
EMPHASIS in foreign aid in the past 15 years has shifted from the trans
ference of physical capital to human resource development and
technical assistance. More recently, there has been a growing realiza
tion that physical and human resources are only as effective as the
institutional environment will allow and the technologies that can be
brought to bear. This survey of the literature focuses upon the func
tional aspects of technology—the economic criteria of choice, the
cultural constraints upon proficiency, and the institutional requisite
for transmittal. The citations have been selected from over 2000 items
that have come to the author's attention during his work on the
problems of industrialization in developing economies. Items selected
are limited to the literature published in English. (An unannotated
bibliography covering the international literature is now being pre
pared by Professor Daniel Lerner under UNESCO sponsorship.)
Citations have been arranged topically and listed in order of "useful
ness", with some items repeated under different classifications. Anno
tations were prepared with a view toward mapping out the relevant
concepts, providing concrete examples of products and systems required
by developing economies, and indicating organizational approaches to
adapting and transmitting advantageous technology. An effort has
been made to relate technical feasibility to economic considerations
and cultural conditions—aspects now generally disassociated in the
professional literature.
The bibliography should prove especially useful to those interested
in an interdisciplinary approach. It should help acquaint engineers
with the viewpoints of economists and other social scientists concerned
with technological development. At the same time, it alerts the social
scientists to the logistics of design and production that are of central
concern to engineers. Design criteria may be drawn from economic
theory pertaining to investment, growth, and trade, and from the work
of social and behavioral scientists that deals with the cultural con
straints upon labor and managerial systems associated with particular
technologies. Better integration of the technical and socio-economic
variables can lead to more suitable products and more advantageous
techniques for emerging economies.
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA
March 31, 1966
R E M A R KS U P ON T HE B I B L I O G R A P HY
PART I. ECONOMIC ASPECTS
ECONOMISTS view technology in terms of enhancing the efficiency of
resource utiUzation and as an ingredient of growth. Relevant criteria
and concepts are derived from the economic theory on investment
(factor proportions), growth (resource allocation) and trade (compara
tive advantage). The concept of factor "scarcity" as developed in
Hirschman (52) and Barnett and Morse (56) are central to questions
of technological optima in the areas of investment return, growth
rates, or trade specializations. Harry G. Johnson's The World Economy
at the Crossroads: A Survey of Current Problems of Money ^ Trade and Economic
Development (Clarendon Press, 1965) provides a good introduction to
the general problems encountered by developing economies in the
modern world. The best textbook treatments are to be found in Enke
(55) and Kindleberger (69). The interdependence between technology
and environment in the context of growth and trade is stressed in
Adelman (51), Fellner (57), Hirschman (52), and Kindleberger (76).
Technology and education are analyzed as ingredients of growth in
Edward F. Denison's The Sources of Economic Growth in the U,S, and the
Alternatives Before Us, Committee for Economic Development Supple
mentary Paper No. 13 (New York: C.E.D., 1962).
Choice of Techniques and Factor Proportions
The basic theory on factor proportions is developed in Carlson (9).
The most comprehensive statements on the criteria of choice for
developing economies appear in Sen (1), Salter (17), and United
Nations (49). Also useful are Tinbergen (13) and United Nations (11).
Criteria most often mentioned are (a) economizing on "scarce" factors,
(b) maximizing employment, and (c) accommodating to levels of skills
and industrial organization. The different analytical frameworks take
into account country differences in factor productivity and interplant
costs (Salter: 17), gestation periods and balance of payment effects
(Sen: 1), and social versus private return (Chenery: 7 and Bryce: 43).
Other criteria drawn from the Yugoslav experience include gestation
periods and intersector effects (United Nations: 21). Techniques for
1
2 TECHNOLOGY FOR UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
deriving production functions from engineering data are outlined in
Chenery (8) and Kurz and Manne (44).
A major issue has been over the extent to which labor-intensive
techniques can substitute for capital and foreign exchange scarcity.
Bator (15) presents the theory favoring labor-intensive techniques.
Development planners have repeatedly stressed the need for capital-
saving techniques (United Nations: 34). Others have questioned the
impact of substitution upon industrial efficiency and competitiveness
in world markets (Marcus and Marcus: 28). Tinbergen (14) has dealt
with the problem of factor-price distortions. Among the shortcomings
cited limiting factor substitution are lack of engineering and managerial
capabilities (Chenery: 7 and Rosenberg: 6), market imperfections
(Arrow: 16), and labor attitudes and practices (Rosenberg: 26). A
related issue has been over small-scale industry to utilize rural agricul
tural labor (United Nations: 11, 35, 36, 47, Boon: 12, SIETI: 24,
Prasad: 30, and Bhalla: 31).
Historical analogies on small-scale industry and labor-intensive
techniques cite Japanese experience (Okita: 4, Okita and Sen: 5,
Ando: 22, Ranis: 18, and United Nations: 19) and the Soviet model
(Granick: 20). Ishikawa (23), on the other hand, cites failure of small-
scale blast furnaces in China as an example of the limitation in applying
small-scale, labor-intensive techniques. Habakkuk (27) traces the
search for labor-saving inventions in Great Britain and the United
States in response to factor scarcities.
Growth Models
The choice or adaptation of suitable technology are critical to
effective resource utilization and, as such, important ingredients of
economic growth and development. A good portion of the literature
has emphasized the need to adapt products and techniques to the
relative abundance of unskilled labor and particular physical resources
while economizing on "scarce" production factors, including capital
and foreign exchange (Lewis: 61 and United Nations: 54). Hirschman
(52) has stressed managerial decision-making as the critical scarcity.
Kindleberger (71) shows how the concept of "obsolete" technology
has often inhibited choices and strategies to economize on scarce
factors. Fei and Ranis (58) analyze the success of the Japanese in
adapting industrial technologies and trade patterns to abundant labor
during their early stage of development in contrast to India, where more
capital-intensive techniques are being introduced.
Furtado (53) views technological capability as a fundamental pre
requisite to growth, and Linder (81) and Kindleberger (76) characterize
REMARKS UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY 3
a society's limitation to adapt and transform as a basic attribute of
underdevelopment. In the growth models developed by Adelman (51)
and Fellner (57), the productivity of factor resources are a function
of applied technology, which in turn depend upon innovation and
risk-taking in a society. In a similar view, Barnett and Morse (56)
argue that resource scarcity is a function of the technology and economic
organization that are brought to bear on available resources. Eckaus
(309) deals with the economics of invention and innovation.
Trade Aspects
A central theme in trade theory has been choice of techniques as a
means of developing comparative advantage in the world economy
(Chenery: 72). Technology as an ingredient of factor productivity and
potential specialization in the world economy are dealt with in Harrod
and Hague (80), Caves (82), Balassa (79), and Vanek (78). A basic
issue has been over static comparative advantage versus structural
change to develop new specialities and capabilities (Malenbaum: 86).
The Brazilian economist, Furtado (53), has made a strong case for
restructuring societies to include new technological transformation
capabilities—a position reinforced by Kindleberger (76), Linder (81),
and Ranis (74).
In many instances, prohibitive engineering costs to adapt techniques
have hindered the development of export industries and are partly
responsible for the proliferation of high-cost industries based upon
import substitution. Increasingly, the bias has been toward industriali
zation strategies that can take advantage of the more efficient large-
scale techniques applied in production for regional or world markets
(Johnson: 75, Prebisch: 84, and Mills: 85). Baldwin (87) argues for
export industries tailored to factor endowment and critical scarcities
through technological adaptation. The impact of tariffs upon industrial
structure are lucidly analyzed in Johnson (83, 88).
PART II. SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON TECHNOLOGY
Anthropologists have been traditionally concerned with the question
of cultural response to modern technology. From this literature one can
gain important insights into the impact of customs, values, and patterns
of social organization upon the suitability (acceptance and compati-
biHty) of products and industrial techniques (Mead: 100, Tax: 114,
Nash: 104, and Mair: 115). From a functional viewpoint, the products
and equipment and industrial techniques and systems are generally
4 TECHNOLOGY FOR UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
ill-suited to the needs of developing societies. Adapting foods to local
affinities or taboos has received wider attention (Meier: 95, Jelliffe and
Bennett: 97) than the problems of adaptation in other consumer goods
(Baranson: 132, 133, 135). "Biotechnics" represents one of several
scientific disciplines designed to adapt equipment to physiological and
cultural variants (Pierce: 91, Weltman: 92, Cherns: 106, and Walker:
90). More complex adjustments are involved in efforts to culturally
adapt production techniques and systems (Florence: 94 and Nair: 316).
Attitudes on the part of managers and labor toward such matters as
quality control or the need for equipment maintenance have a strong
bearing upon the utility of a transmitted industrial system (Baranson:
32). Similarly, social commitment and the innovational spirit upon
which technological transformation depend are a function of cultural
value (Niehoff and Anderson: 121, Enke: 124, Lambert: 108, Lauter
bach: 111, and Cochrane: 122).
Impact upon Equipment and Product Design
The impact of individual traits and organizational capabilities upon
maintenance and industrial procedures are examined in United
Nations (89, 93). Florence (94) suggests ways and means to adjust
industrial design and procedures to cultural "shortcomings". Hirsch
man (52), on the other hand, recommends that technologies be pur
posely designed to help overcome cultural deficiencies such as laxness
in maintenance habits. Calder (96) has some interesting folklore on
cultural aptitude for particular industrial activities.
Impact of Customs and Ideology on Industrial Proficiency
Attitudinal deterrents to technological progress include an "ego-
focused image of change" on the part of management (Hirschman:
98) and a "craft-oriented" psychology on the part of labor (Rice: 103).
Adaptations to modern factory systems are described and documented
in Tax (114), Rice (103), Nash (104), and Savage (113). Labor force
mentality is covered in Lambert (108) and Wynne-Roberts (105).
Harbison and Myers (110) and Lauterbach (111) deal with managerial
mentality under different cultural environments.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The social environment of innovation are covered in Enke (124),
Mair (115), Pepelasis: 118, Echavarria and Higgins: 117, and Hoselitz
and Moore: 116. Lewis (119) treats that subject in the larger context
REMARKS UPON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY O
of the appHcation of knowledge; Niehoff and Anderson (121) and
Cochrane (122) provide checklists on the characteristics of innovators;
and the impact of caste and religion are examined in Vakil (123).
PART III. PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS
In industrially-advanced countries problems of industrial design are
formulated by separate disciplines from different viewpoints. Generally
speaking, industrial-product designers and plant engineers work inde
pendently. Criteria of social acceptability and economic costs are part
of the design engineers' stock-in-trade. But in designing products and
production systems for developing economies, special differences in
markets and production environments must be taken into account
(Baranson: 135 and 308).
Technical design for underdeveloped areas is itself an underdeveloped
discipline. Some basic ideas on an approach to the design of industrial
systems for developing countries are presented in Brady (131). The
application of modular design principles may be one way to resolve
the fundamental problem of low volume production in developing
economies (Baranson: 135, Nelson: 204, Beckman: 149, and Melman:
162). A potential role for developing countries in the world economy
as segments of international manufacturing and marketing complexes
is outHned in Baranson (166 and 305). Technological logistics in the
transport field are dealt with in Owen (195), Meyer (304), and Fromm
(310); communications and urban growth in Meier (200); education
in Baranson (207); construction in ILO (314); population control in
Meier (208), Freedman (210), and National Academy of Sciences (212);
flat-glass industry in Nehrt (313); village technologies in (U.S.) Agency
for International Development (215), General Engineering Laboratory
(216), lonides (217), Dunkel (218), and Ling (219); and agriculture
in Sen (227), Swerling (228), and Ruttan (230).
Product and Systems
Gruber (126) surveys relevant technologies for developing economies,
and United Nations (129) contains case studies on the adaptation of
industrial techniques. Various product needs, potential applications,
and equipment designs are outUned in Meier (130), Baranson (132,
133, 134, 135), and Karabdil (140).
Concepts and Techniques in Creative Design
Basic techniques in creative design are summarized in Alger and
Hays (145). Special approaches to product design have been developed
6 TECHNOLOGY FOR UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
by Miles (141: "value analysis") and Gordon (144: "synectics").
Pioneer concepts in the housing field appear in Fuller (147) and
Doxiadis (148).
Industrial Techniques and Equipment
Pioneer work on the design of equipment for developing countries
has been done by the United Nations Centre for Industrial Develop
ment (154, 155, 156) and the Netherlands Economic Institute (151).
Adaptations in the chemical industry are analyzed in Araoz (167), and
other industries are covered in United Nations (164). A wide range of
related work has been done in connection with the United Nations
Conference on Science in the Advancement of New States (Gruber: 126).
Case studies on India (SIETI: 24), Japan (United Nations: 157), and
Brazil (United Nations: 159) describe adaptations of selected industries
in particular industrial environments. Unksov (160) analyzes forging
techniques, Melman (162) and Rosenberg (161) machine tools,
Cartaino (196) civil aircraft, Yonkers (165) all purpose vehicles, and
Matthofer (163) metal-working techniques.
PART IV. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Technological transmittal involves institutions and manpower to
establish technological needs, identify suitable technologies, and adapt
or modify products and production techniques. In order to fill these
needs it may be necessary to formulate national programs to train
technologists, carry out research and development activities, and estab
lish adequate liaison with technology sources. The ingredients of
international transmittal systems are examined in Svennilson (278),
de Vries (237), Solo (303), and Baranson (240, 266, 267). Mead (277)
contains some important insights on the role of creative institutionalism,
and the role of international marketing and manufacturing complexes
is examined in Baranson (166, 305, 306).
National Programs
Various proposals have been made on institutions for the design or
adaptation of products and equipment to local requirements; on
industrial extension centers (Bohra: 235) and on national research
and development authorities (Galbraith: 245 and Baranson: 240, 267).
Specific needs and deficiencies are outlined in Matveyev (272). Specific
recommendations on national programs are set forth for the Philippines
