Neo-developmental states in the twenty-first century: technological upgrading in the Korean telecommunications sector

Korean firms are relatively new entrants in the race to set new technological standards in the international telecommunications sector. However, these endeavours were not undertaken alone: the Korean state has worked in partnership with domestic firms to support their transition from being fast-followers to innovators. The international standardization of Korean-developed technologies has attracted intense criticism from foreign trade partners, principally the United States who has typically demanded the withdrawal of the Korean government’s involvement in the domestic and international standardization of Korean-developed technologies. How has the Korean government maintained a strategic approach to industrial governance despite the existence of significant external political pressures? By focusing on public and private efforts to promote the domestic and international standardization of a new fourth-generation telecommunications technology known as ‘Mobile Wimax’, I argue that high levels of elite consensus and the creation of robust mechanisms to facilitate inter-firm and state-industry networks helped the Korean state’s support for the technological upgrading of domestic firms.