PSD and Industrial Policy Strategies

Private sector development (PSD) has taken on an increasingly prominent role in both the debates as well as budgets of international development cooperation in recent years. PSD interventions generally put emphasis on comparative advantage, an enabling business environment and horizontal/“neutral” policies. However, the debate on the role of industrial policy in supporting economic development is re-emerging. Important drivers of this debate have been the financial crisis, “green growth” initiatives, the obvious success of China as an industrial powerhouse, and the increasing locational competition for high value-added activities.

While the promotion of local private sector activities in Global South countries and the support of donor countries’ business activities in partner countries have for a long time been part of development cooperation strategies, the private sector has more recently also taken on a more proactive role in development policy. Businesses, particularly international ones, are increasingly given space in international and national policy discussions, acting as a partner to address development challenges and designing, financing and implementing development activities together with official development actors.

Important questions emerge in this context that ÖFSE assesses:

  • What are the reasons for the increasing importance of PSD?
  • Which activities are currently subsumed under the term private sector development by different actors, donors and institutions? What strategies, concepts and theoretical approaches are being pursued?
  • To what extent do PSD interventions reflect the interests of the private sector in partner countries or of businesses of donor countries?
  • How have discourses and policies changed with the, mostly international, private sector becoming increasingly a partner (and not only a tool) for development?
  • How can PSD interventions contribute to inclusive development and poverty reduction?
  • What is the role of industrial policy in PSD interventions? To what extent is the re-emerging debate on industrial policy reflected in new generations of PSD interventions?
  • Which industrial policy measures are required, that support structural change as well as employment creation, decent jobs and environmental sustainability?

For more information contact:

Werner Raza

Mr. Werner Raza
Director
Tel.: +43 1 317 40 10 – 101  
E-Mail: w.raza@oefse.at

more information

Publications on the topic:

Wirtschaftspolitische Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung der Versorgungssicherheit mit kritischen Gütern

Publikation im Rahmen des Projekts "Increasing resilience and security of supply of production post-COVID-19: from global to regional value chains?"

Werner Raza / Jan Grumiller / Hannes Grohs / Verena Madner / Stefan Mayr / Iryna Sauca

Wien, November 2021

Neben vielen anderen Auswirkungen hat die COVID-19-Pandemie die Verwundbarkeit der globalen  ...

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Policy Note 33

Strategies for sustainable upgrading in global value chains: the Egyptian textile and apparel sector

Jan Grumiller / Werner Raza / Hannes Grohs

Wien, May 2020

The promotion of sustainable value chains is on the rise in the EU, with important implicati ...

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Working Paper 61

Towards an Institutional Setup for Industrial Policy in Late Industrialization in the 21st Century

Jan Grumiller / Werner Raza

Wien, November 2019

Political and scholary debates on the potentials and constraints of inclusive and sustainabl ...

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Briefing Paper 22

Import promotion as an instrument of development cooperation – lessons from European experiences for Austrian development cooperation

Jan Grumiller / Werner Raza

Wien, July 2019

Import promotion has become an important pillar of private sector development activities in  ...

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Policy Note 14

Private sector development – business plan or development strategy?

Karin Küblböck / Cornelia Staritz

Wien, May 2015

Private sector development (PSD) has taken on an increasingly prominent role in internationa ...

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Working Paper 51

Private sector development – business plan or development strategy?

Karin Küblböck / Cornelia Staritz

Wien, April 2015

Private sector development (PSD) has taken on an increasingly prominent role in both the deb ...

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Österreichische Entwicklungspolitik 2013

Private Sector Development

Ein neuer Businessplan für Entwicklung?

ÖFSE (Hrsg.)

Wien, May 2013 | 978-3-902906-00-7

Diese Ausgabe der "Österreichischen Entwicklungspolitik" widmet sich dem Schwerpunkthema "Pr ...

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