Roberta Rabellotti

Exploring Firm-Level Innovation and Productivity in Developing Countries: The Perspective of Caribbean Small States

This monograph explores productivity, innovation, and firm performance, important issues that affect private sector development in the Caribbean region. Using unique and recently available datasets consisting of more than 4,000 surveys at the firm level, and covering 13 Caribbean countries, it examines a set of variables that affect productivity and innovation in the region. The chapters provide a unique perspective on the barriers to innovation, and on how access to finance, competition, foreign direct investment, gender, access to electricity, and public programs affect productivity and innovation at the firm level. The publication culminates with a review of the policy interventions that could have the most impact in increasing firm performance within the region.

Clusters in the Caribbean: Understanding their Characteristics, Defining Policies for their Development

The aim of this paper is to map Caribbean clusters and identify their specific characteristics based on existing literature and available empirical evidence. A desk review of 32 clusters distributed across the Caribbean looks at natural resources (agriculture, agro-processing, forestry, aquaculture, and energy), manufacturing, and services (tourism, creative industries, and business services) industries. Three groups of clusters are identified: rising, innovative, and sluggish. Based on this classification, policy recommendations are provided considering the diverse characteristics of the investigated clusters.

What Have we Learnt from the Wine Industry? Some Concluding Remarks

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the supremacy of ‘Old World’ countries (France and Italy) in the international wine market has been challenged by new players, such as Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, which are recording stunning performances in terms both of export volume and value. This book demonstrates that such a spectacular example of catch-up goes beyond simply copying new technologies; it entails creative adaptation and innovation, and introduces a new growth trajectory in which consistent investments in research and science play a key role.