An East Asian variety of modernization theory, which argues that East Asian economies have followed Japan’s economic development pathway of import substitution-cum-export promotion and the progression from crude and simple goods to complex and refined goods. See Schoeppel and Mariko (2002) Japanstudien 14, 203.
www.gsb.columbia.edu/cjeb/research Ozawa (2010) provides a thorough critique of the theory at Columbia University website.