Technological problems in Mexico

In reviewing some of Mexico's most significant technological problems (as observed in several years of study by the Armour Research Foundation), it is necessary to recognize that, in general, manufacturing industries are new to Mexico. Agriculture and the extraction of crude minerals have been the principal activities until fairly recent years, and are still among the most important in volume. The largest part of the conversion of Mexican raw materials into finished products has been done through exportation of the raw materials to other countries. The adverse economic effect of this is not the subject of the present article although it is the very heart of Mexico's industrialization problem. The pertinent fact is that under this procedure the manufacturing technology for these products has been applied and developed continuously in other countries such as the United States, but not appreciably in Mexico itself.