The recent economic liberalization in developing countries is making many sectors succumb to new competitive pressures. Governments face the dilemma of how to help firms compete without falling back into failed dirigiste policies. Based on recent findings on the importance of inter-firm cooperation, public-private collaboration and local policies in boosting competitiveness, this book analyzes how much these elements explain the new dynamism of two agroindustrial sectors in Argentina and Chile, dairy and fresh fruit respectively.

GABRIEL G. CASABURI is Professor at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, and Researcher at Instituto de Estudios de la Realidad, Argentina. He has been a consultant for the Inter American Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America. He has published other books and articles on the political economy of international trade and on the competitiveness of the agrifood sector in Argentina.

Acknowledgements List of Maps List of Tables List of Graphics Acronyms Introduction: A Policy Dilemma in the Developing World The Sectors: Argentine Dairy and Chilean Fruit in International Perspective Land Tenure Regimes and Diffused Enterpreneurship in DPSs Innovation, Research and Development in the Argentine and Chilean DPSs Inter-firm Cooperation in Rafaela and in the Central Valley The Role of the State in Dynamic Production Systems Politics and the Shape of the Dynamic Production Systems in Argentina and Chile Conclusion: Dynamic Production Systems and the Newly-Liberalized Developing Countries Index