taeko hoshino industrialisation and private enterprises in mexico chiba institute of developing economies

Taeko Hoshino. Industrialisation and Private Enterprises in Mexico. Chiba: Institute of Developing Economies (Occasional Paper Series No. 36), 2001. Pages 142. Hardbound. Price not given. Taeko Hoshino is a Senior Research Fellow specialising in the study of economic development in Mexico at the Institute of Developing Economies, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. In Industrialisation and Private Enterprises in Mexico Hoshino sheds lights on the structure of Mexican industry laying particular emphasis on the behavioural implications of prevalent structures. Failure on the part of the Mexican government to understand these features may compromise the neo- liberal development strategy currently being pursued. Hoshino attributes Mexico’s shift from import substitution industrialisation (ISI) to neo-liberalism, and also to the economic crises of 1982, 1987, and 1994. These recurring crises stem from Mexico’s external debt problem and economic liberalisation itself. Of particular interest is the fact that in spite of an unfavourable operating environment, large-scale Mexican enterprises have been able to adapt and compete successfully. In assessing the causes of the relative success of large-scale enterprises, several factors are of significance. First, as the government privatises its productive assets, large-scale Mexican firms are the only indigenous players with the resources to buy and operate them. Thus, part of the expansion is due to the transfer of state assets. Second, an increasing share of the domestic market has enabled large-scale enterprises to expand abroad, mainly within the Western Hemisphere. In addition to these two factors are internal reorganisation and the re-negotiation of external debts. This does not imply that Mexico’s big businesses are expanding by default. A major thrust of Hoshino’s argument is that by examining the early period of Mexican industrial development before the 1980s strong internal factors, such as superior business strategy, become apparent. The empirical basis for this contention is established by case studies of individual large-scale private sector firms drawn from the beer brewing, steel, mining, auto-parts, and banking industries. Viewed in the present context of rising popular opposition to corporate globalisation, Industrialisation and Private Enterprises in Mexico is an important and timely work. What many readers will find disturbing is that in Mexico, as in other countries, neo-liberalism works to the direct advantage of large companies and exacerbates difficulties faced by small and medium scale enterprises.