Darius Bozorg Mehri’s research while affiliated with University of California, Berkeley and other places

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Publications (2)


Pockets of Efficiency and the Rise of Iran Auto: Implications for Theories of the Developmental State
  • Article

May 2015

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66 Reads

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6 Citations

Studies in Comparative International Development

Darius B. Mehri

Most theories of the developmental state assume that industrial transformation requires capable and coherent development bureaucracies that are “autonomous”—insulated from particularistic private interests yet benefiting from networks connecting them to relevant private industrial actors. Scholars agree that political factionalism and Islamic institutions have transformed Iran into an economically incoherent and rent-seeking predatory state. Iran’s success in developing an automobile industry with high local manufacturing content, while becoming the world’s 11th largest producer of passenger cars and the fifth largest in the global south, seems to contradict this perspective. This paper offers two contributions to existing theories of the developmental state: First, it shows that nationalists with a project of industrialization can decouple a key set of organizations sufficiently from other parts of the state apparatus to create an effective “pocket of efficiency” within a specific industrial sector. Second, sequencing in the evolution of the state’s role may be important in facilitating effective development. Construction of Iran’s auto industry resulted from a process of collective action by elite managers within the industry to first establish elite autonomous alliances within the state and then to establish network connections to economic actors outside the state who could help defend the project from opponents.


The role of engineering consultancies as network-centred actors to develop indigenous, technical capacity: The case of Iran's automotive industry

February 2015

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51 Reads

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13 Citations

Socio-Economic Review

Recent network-centred development scholarship has emphasized the role of ties to multinational enterprises, foreign direct investment and R&D centres as the primary conduits through which technology is transferred to build indigenous local technical capacity in the current global economy. This paper builds on these observations by introducing engineering consulting firms as key network actors for the development of automobile industries. I will show that a country can develop an industry with greater indigenous, local technical capacity if it establishes ties to engineering consulting firms whose core task is to transfer ownership of the technology to local firms. This case suggests that the development of an automobile industry does not require reliance on multinational investment as a primary source of technology. In addition, by establishing ties to engineering consultancies, even countries isolated from global institutions can engage in more rapid technological learning and industrial upgrading when more conventional ties to sources of technology are unavailable.

Citations (2)


... wysp efektywności (pockets of efficiency) 10 . Wymienić można powszechnie znany brazylijski program samolotów pasażerskich lub indyjski przemysł komputerowo-informatyczny oraz bardziej egzotyczny przypadek irańskiego przemysłu samochodowego, gdzie poczyniono istotne postępy w kierunku rozwoju krajowego potencjału technologicznego w warunkach systemu politycznego wyjątkowo niesprzyjającego spójności i koordynacji w zarządzaniu publicznym (Mehri 2015). Nie należy też zapominać, że aktywna polityka przemysłowa leżała i leży u źródeł przewag niemal wszystkich krajów współcześnie wysoko rozwiniętych (Chang 2002, Block 2008. ...

Reference:

Dekada nowej ekonomii strukturalnej: czym była i co z niej zostało?
Pockets of Efficiency and the Rise of Iran Auto: Implications for Theories of the Developmental State
  • Citing Article
  • May 2015

Studies in Comparative International Development

... characteristics. Noise, vibration, and handling characteristics can quickly become unacceptable to consumers in vehicles that are poorly engineered.However, with the growing use of commercial global design and engineering consultancies and module and system engineering capabilities in first tier global suppliers in the 1990s and 2000s, companies such as China's Chery and Iran's Khodro have been able to develop and market vehicles suitable for their local markets, if not (yet) for large scale export(Mehri, 2015; Lüthje, 2022). 27 It is also possible that rising capabilities in the supply-base will extend to contract final vehicle assembly by large suppliers such as Magna's Styer division in Austria, which already assembles low-volume variants for Daimler's Mercedes and other brands. ...

The role of engineering consultancies as network-centred actors to develop indigenous, technical capacity: The case of Iran's automotive industry
  • Citing Article
  • February 2015

Socio-Economic Review