V. G. R. Chandran Govindaraju

Bio: V. G. R. Chandran Govindaraju is an academic researcher from Universiti Teknologi MARA. The author has contributed to research in topics: Infant industry argument & Cointegration. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 4 publications receiving 134 citations.

Automotive industry in Malaysia: an assessment of its development

Abstract: This paper explains the evolution and assesses the development of the Malaysian automotive industry within the premise of infant industry and trade protection framework as well as extended arguments of infant industry using a global value chain perspective. The Malaysian automotive industry expanded in terms of sales, production, employment and local content, but failed in industrial upgrading and international competitiveness. The failures can be attributed to (a) lack of political promotion for high challenge-high support environment, (b) low technological and marketing capabilities and (c) limited participation in the global value chain. Although the Malaysian infant industry protection policy comprised many promising initiatives, the national and the overall domestic automobile industry ended up as a captive of the regionalised Japanese keiretsu system in automobile manufacturing. A new transformation is required to push the industry beyond its current performance through a more strategic productive coalition with multiple stakeholders including trade unions.

Economic growth and government spending in Malaysia: a re-examination of Wagner and Keynesian views

Abstract: By making use of annual data from Malaysia for the period 1970 to 2006, this paper examines Wagner’s law and the Keynesian hypothesis concerning the link between real government spending and real GDP. Unlike most existing studies, we utilize both a bivariate and a multivariate model. In addition, we consider two cases: one that focuses on the link between aggregate government spending and GDP and the other where the link between government spending on education and GDP is considered. The use of a multivariate model serves to reduce the problem of serious misspecification which appears to have been ignored by most existing studies. The presence of cointegration is investigated by means of Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. This approach also allows one to distinguish between the short and the long-run relationships. Within the context of a bivariate model, our empirical analysis reveals that aggregate government spending Granger causes the real GDP which supports Wagner’s law. However, in a multivariate framework, we found support for the Keynesian hypothesis suggesting that omitted variables bias can significantly alter the validity of Wagner’s law.

The role of collaboration, market and intellectual property rights awareness in university technology commercialization

Abstract: University technology commercialization has become an important topic of discussion in an era where the results of university research may create opportunities for new processes and products. Despite the government's allocation of research grants to universities in developing countries such as Malaysia, the level of technology commercialization is still low. While numerous factors contribute to the poor commercialization rate, the internal dynamics are one of the major driving factors. It is in this context that we analyze the influence of awareness of market requirements and intellectual property issues and collaboration on technology commercialization. Taking the researchers as the unit of analysis, while controlling for experience and other individual characteristics, we found that researchers' awareness of market requirements, intellectual property rights and university-industry collaborations play an important role in determining the success of university technology commercialization.

The rise of China’s manufacturing sector: challenges and opportunities for ASEAN-5

Abstract: This study investigates the trends of manufacturing export from China and ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore). The Balassa revealed comparative advantage (RCA) method was used to study the trade flows from these nations. The strength of the export specialization of the countries was measured using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The study was conducted using the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) product categories at three-digit level for the period 1993-2004. The results showed that China is not only active in labor and resource-based industries, but is also moving up in the innovation value chain—that is, it is increasing its presence in technology and knowledge-intensive industries as well. The dual-strategy adopted by China has serious implications on the manufacturing industries in ASEAN-5. The paper discusses the strategies and policies to enhance the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in ASEAN-5. JEL classification: F14, L60, N60, N65

Governance in global value chains

Abstract: This book opens a fresh chapter in the debate on local enterprise clusters and their strategies for upgrading in the global economy. The authors employ a novel conceptual framework in their research on industrial clusters in Europe, Latin America and Asia and provide new perspectives and insights for researchers and policymakers alike.

Trade and industrialisation after globalisation's 2nd unbundling: how building and joining a supply chain are different and why it matters

Abstract: Revolutionary transformations of industry and trade occurred from 1985 to the late-1990s -- the regionalisation of supply chains. Before 1985, successful industrialisation meant building a domestic supply chain. Today, industrialisers join supply chains and grow rapidly because offshored production brings elements that took Korea and Taiwan decades to develop domestically. These changes have not been fully reflected in -- high development theory -- a lacuna that may lead to misinterpretation of data and inattention to important policy questions.

Keynes and Wagner on government expenditures and economic development: the case of a developing economy

Abstract: This paper investigates the Keynesian view and the Wagner’s Law on the role of public expenditure on economic growth for Malaysia (1970–2004). The empirical results using the Auto-Regression Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the ‘bounds test’ (Pesaran et al. in J Appl Econ 16:289–326, 2001) showed evidence of a long run relationship between total expenditures (including expenditures on defense, education, development and agriculture) and Gross National Product. The results also show that with the structural break in 1998, the long run causality is bi-directional for GNP and expenditures on administration and health, supporting both Keynes view and Wagner’s Law. For all other expenditure categories the long run causality runs from GNP to the expenditures, which supports Wagner’s Law.

Links and Impacts: The Influence of Public Research on Industrial R&D

Abstract: This book re-examines the rationale for public policy, concluding that the prevailing ‘public knowledge' model is evolving towards a networked or distributed model of knowledge production and use in which public and private institutions play complementary roles. It provides a set of tools and models to assess the impact of the new network model of funding and governance, and argues that governments need to adapt their funding and administrative priorities and procedures to support the emergence and healthy growth of research networks. The book goes on to explain that interdependencies and complementarities in the production and distribution of knowledge require a new and more contextual, flexible and complex approach to government funding, monitoring and assessment.

Panel Data, Cointegration, Causality And Wagner'S Law: Empirical Evidence From Chinese Provinces

Abstract: This paper tests Wagner's law of increasing state activity using panels of Chinese provinces. The paper's main methodological contribution is in that we employ for the first time in the literature on Wagner's law a panel unit root, panel cointegration and Granger Causality testing approach. Overall, we find mixed evidence in support of Wagner's law for China's central and western provinces, but no support for Wagner's law for the full panel of provinces or for the panel of China's eastern provinces.