Secondly, and in contrast to the past, Asia shows a high degree of adaptability to the rapidly shifting economic environment. The market order has been realigned since the 1990s through the IT revolution and the rapid progress of globalization.
Competition has become fierce just in order to  4/6  survive and new technology sectors such as IT, biotechnology and nanotechnology have rapidly spread while the previous smokestack industries are being squeezed out. The Asian countries, however, have not trailed behind the advanced countries in some of these areas, which is a stark contrast with the industrialization period in the past.