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Service Industries and Regions pp 135–155Cite as

Reconfiguring the Global Service Economy? The Case of the BRICs

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Part of the book series: Advances in Spatial Science ((ADVSPATIAL))

Abstract

Since O’Neill (2001) first suggested it was time to build better global economic BRICs the inexorable growth of Brazil, Russia, India and China has eclipsed the performance of the G7 countries. While the drivers of economic growth in each BRIC country vary, they are all predicated primarily on rapid expansion of inwardly invested and/or domestic manufacturing or low-skill, technology-intensive business process and customer support services. These changes are reshaping the geography of the global economy but the BRICs are still at the investment-driven stage of development; consolidation and further enhancement of their competitiveness will require a transition towards the third, innovation-based, stage. This will require greater engagement with knowledge intensive services both as inputs to the production of high quality, high technology goods and services for the global market and as participants in their own right in that market which is currently dominated by service transnationals based in the G7. This chapter explores the notion that the BRIC economies that fail to develop critical mass in knowledge intensive services will be “hollow” economies unable to sustain the competitive momentum of the last decade.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The G7 comprises: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States.

  2. 2.

    Competitiveness is defined as ‘the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country’ (Schwab, 2011, 4).

  3. 3.

    Using ISIC Rev. 3, KIS comprise Category K (Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities) includes three business services Divisions: computer and related services (72), research and development (73) and other business services (74). Within these groups knowledge-intensive business services include IT-consulting (72), R&D services (73), legal (74), accounting (74), marketing and advertising (74), business consulting and human resource development (74). Parts of Category J (Financial intermediation) such as Division 67 (Activities auxiliary to financial intermediation) could also be classified as KIS). (see for example, Miles, 2005; Rubalcaba-Bermejo & Kox, 2007)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Peter Daniels

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  1. Peter Daniels
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Correspondence to Peter Daniels .

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  1. , Applied Economics, University of Alcala - Madrid, Plaza Victoria 2, Alcalá de Henares, 28802, Spain

    Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura

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Daniels, P. (2013). Reconfiguring the Global Service Economy? The Case of the BRICs. In: Cuadrado-Roura, J. (eds) Service Industries and Regions. Advances in Spatial Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35801-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35801-2_6

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