Learning in Local Systems and Global Links: The Otigba Computer Hardware Cluster in Nigeria
Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka
#2006-007
Conventional wisdom suggests to the fact that poor countries are
unlikely to be host to a “high-technology” sector and doing so within
the organization of small and medium enterprises. This paper examines an
unusual phenomenon of industrial organization in an African setting; the
emergence of a cluster of an information technology hardware cluster in
a very late industrializing country, Nigeria. The evolution of the
Otigba Computer Hardware Village (OCV) in Lagos, Nigeria has proceeded
largely without direct support from the state and indeed within a
decidedly hostile institutional and arid infrastructural environment.
Yet the cluster has thrived, thus far, with institutional support of a
local trade and manufacturing association. The study holds important
lessons for late industrializing countries entering into a knowledge
intensive sector.
Keywords: learning, innovation system, computer hardware, clusters.
ISSN 1871-9872