Ndukwe, C V; Chan, T K; Gao, G and Liu, J (2021) Development of economic nationalism in Australia and implication for the construction supply chain. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 37th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-7 September 2021, Online Event, UK.
Abstract
Despite rapid economic globalisation, economic nationalist measures such as a local content policy for the construction sector that has gained favour in recent years is now being promoted as a tool for rejuvenating the Australian economy. This study aims to conduct a structured literature review on the historical development of economic nationalism in Australia and its implication for the construction supply chain. The findings indicate that economic nationalism was strong with protectionist policies of tariffs and the rejection of foreign capital prevalent before 1990 but became more open from the early 2000s, with increasing import penetration from lower cost producers leading to declines in Australian manufacturing capacity. Policies such as 'buy local', subsidies to manufacturers, and strategic restrictions on foreign investment were put in place during this period. The disruptions caused by the pandemic and recent global trade tensions have resulted in a resurgent economic nationalist sentiment to sustain the declining Australian manufacturing sector to maintain a capacity to produce essential items. Construction companies that have previously sourced a large proportion of their materials and products overseas are now encouraged to increase their local content requirements to support the domestic manufacturing sector.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Australia; construction supply chain; economic globalisation; economic nationalism |
| Index terms: | historical development, construction supply chain, globalization, foreign investment, construction sector, penetration, manufacturer, subsidy, pandemic, construction company, Australia, literature review, import |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, economic factors, market analysis, Geography, health risk and incident analysis, data analysis and analytics, economic analysis, architectural and construction history, construction logistics, practitioner, organization |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions, International Construction, Supply Chain Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here