The Promise of Small and Medium Enterprises BRICS National Systems of Innovation

This series of books brings together results of an extensive research programme on aspects of the national systems of innovation (NSI) in the five BRICS countries ? Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It provides a comprehensive and comparative examination of the challenges and opportunities faced by these dynamic and emerging economies. In discussing the impact of innovation with respect to economic, geopolitical, socio-cultural, institutional, and technological systems, it reveals the possibilities of new development paradigms for equitable and sustainable growth.

This volume, third in the series, looks at the relationship between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the National Systems of Innovation in the BRICS countries. It brings to fore crucial issues in the evolution and future trends of industrial or innovation policies for small firms: their scope, applicability, co-ordination, and main results, as well as the influence of macroeconomic, legal and regulatory environments. Taking into account the specificities and complexities of SMEs? production and innovation systems, it seeks to inform research, policy design and implementation in the field. Original and detailed data, together with expert analyses on wide-ranging issues, make this book an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in economics, development studies and political science, in addition to policy makers and development practitioners interested in the BRICS countries.

Foreword Helena M. M. Lastres. Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction: BRICS National Systems of Innovation Jose É. Cassiolato and Maria Clara Couto Soares 1. Small Fish in a Big Pond: SME and Innovation in BRICS Countries Ana Arroio and Mario Scerri 2. Local Productive Systems and SME Development in Brazil Ana Arroio 3. Innovation in Russian SMEs: Growth under Transition Alexander Sokolov and Pavel Rudnik 4. On Learning, Innovation and Competence Building in India’s SMEs: The Challenges Ahead Keshab Das and K. J. Joseph 5. National Innovation Systems in China: Role of SMEs Yuan Cheng and Jian Gao 6. National Systems of Innovation and Small Enterprise Development in South Africa Lindile L. Ndabeni.

Ana Arroio is Manager of Innovation and Development, Federation of Industries of Rio de Janeiro State — FIRJAN, Brazil.

Mario Scerri is Professor of Economics and Senior Research Fellow,　Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, Faculty of Economics and Finance, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.