Could assembling Google Chromebooks come back to bite us?

When the Government of Pakistan announced that Google would finally register a company in Pakistan and partner on a local Chromebook assembly plant, the headlines were pumped with news about the tech giant entering Pakistan, marking a step towards a digital revolution, creation of jobs and unlocking of export potential. All of this is true but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The PR around Google coming into Pakistan is great but the underlying economics might not necessarily be. 

Beneath the patriotic excitement lies a complicated and uncomfortable truth. If Pakistan doesn’t tread carefully, this initiative could undermine its local businesses, distort incentives, drain public money, and recreate the same dependency traps that have crippled other industrialisation attempts in the past.

This is not an anti-technology argument. It’s an anti-mistake argument. And Pakistan has made this particular mistake many, many times. Below is the side of the story not appearing in official press releases why the Chromebook assembly plant may be far less of a breakthrough, and far more of a strategic misstep.