Infrastructure and Technology Planning and Development for Sustainable Industrial Growth: Lessons from Wood Enterprises in Kenya

Abstract

This paper interrogates industrial development in Kenya. It presents a discourse in support of modernizing local technologies and focusing on small manufacturing enterprises (Jua Kali) to anchor sustainable industrial development in Less Developed Countries. The trend in production and performance in Wood Industry in Kenya is used to demonstrate that relying on modern technology brought in by foreign Direct Investment does not always lead to sustainable development. The paper is informed by a longitudinal survey of the performance of manufacturing and Wood Industries in Kenya.