| Abstract |
This paper examines how Indian ICT firms manage knowledge and human resources in the phase of industrial upgrading. Emerging economies are increasingly becoming centers of knowledge-intensive industries nowadays, of which ICT industry in India is a typical example. As they face rapid salary increase, it is argued that industrial upgrading is inevitable from merely low cost knowledge work providers to differentiated suppliers based on firm-specific organizational capability. It has not been so clear, however, how they manage important knowledge and human resources to enable their continuous upgrading. In this paper, based on interviews and an original questionnaire survey for Indian ICT firms, it is argued that upgraded firms have broad external information sources as well as long-term, internal labor market-oriented employment systems which enable them to accumulate and utilize useful knowledge to innovate. |