Business outlook: making it in the third world

The electronics industry in developing countries has mushroomed into a multibillion dollar export industry, as it has spread to country after country around the world. By 1974, the electronics industry in Taiwan alone was generating more than $991 million (all figures are in U.S. dollars) in gross exports. Electronics thus accounted for almost 15 percent of Taiwan's total overseas shipments and 6 percent of its gross national product. With imports of electronic products reported at $518 million, of which parts and components accounted for 70 percent, this amounted to a net contribution of more than $610 million to Taiwan's national income.