Breakup of the production processes of an ever-increasing array of products into vertically-separated stages/tasks carried out in several countries (‘global production sharing’) has been the prime mover of the dramatic shift in manufacturing exports from developed to developing countries in recent decades.

The purpose of this seminar is to discuss, from a comparative East Asian perspective, Indonesia’s experience with exploiting opportunities for export-oriented industrialisation created by this phenomenon.

It aims to address, inter alia, the following issues: How Indonesian manufacturing fits into global production sharing compared to China and other emerging East Asian economies? What explains Indonesia’s lacklustre relative performance? Has Indonesia ‘missed the boat’ or is there still room for regaining the lost grounds? What are the implications of the so-called ‘fourth industrialisation revolution’ (‘Industry 4.0’) for this policy debate?