The purpose of this research is to examine the raw material resources export situation for developing countries. When resources are exported in their raw state, producing countries (1) reap minimal economic benefits during periods of strong demand for their resources, and (2) are subject to severe economic contraction when demand slackens. New and more effective strategies are required for the international marketing of raw material resources by developing countries.
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Effective resource development within a society involves the development of human resources, and domestic processing and manufacturing capacity, as well as the development of physical resources (Palombara, 1974, pp. 233-282). All too many developing countries continue to emphasize the development of their natural physical resources, at the expense of the development within the developing countries, of their human resources, and domestic processing and manufacturing capacities. A typical pattern for the development of natural physical resources in a developing country involves (1) the development of extractive or harvesting industries within a developing country, (2) the shipment of the resource in its raw state to a developed country, (3) the processing of the resource, and, where applicable, the manufacture of products from the processed resource in a developed country, and (4) the sale of finished products by a developed country. In such a scenario, the primary economic benefits accruing to the developing country derive from low level labor wages paid to its citizens during extractive or harvesting operations. While it is true that an extractive or harvesting industrial capacity has been developed within a developing country, this capacity becomes largely worthless when the physical resource is depleted, or when demand for the resource slackens.
The low level labor wages typically paid to extractiv...