Market Platforms, Industrial Clusters and Small Business Dynamics

The emergence of specialized markets has profoundly improved the means of market access, enriched the driving forces of value chains, and changed the business environment for small firms in the developing world. This ground-breaking book summarizes the experience of specialized markets in a systematic manner. Specialized markets are a unique product of China's economic transition. They are marketplaces located in industrial clusters, specializing in the wholesale of local commodities and related goods. Ding Ke reveals that, despite their seemingly primitive form, specialized markets appeared in many of the modern industrial sectors and were paradoxically upgraded and expanded as these clusters developed. He argues that specialized markets have also formed solid linkages with marketplaces in various cities in China and in other developing economies. A powerful, emerging market-oriented distribution system has thus appeared. Based on thorough fieldwork covering ten years, and using the novel theory of the platform, this book clarifies the unique development logic of specialized markets.

Specialized markets have thoroughly changed the business environment for SMEs in developing countries and greatly enriched the general understanding concerning SME development. This book will prove invaluable for SME, Chinese economy and platform researchers. Management scientists and managers in multinational firms focusing on bottom-of-the-pyramid markets will also find plenty of interesting information in this enlightening compendium.

Published in association with the Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO