From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: Global Production and Work in the IT Industry (Asia/Pacific/Perspectives)

This seminal study explores the significant changes in the global IT industry as production has shifted from the developed world to massive sites in the developing world that house hundreds of thousands of workers in appalling low-wage conditions to minimize labor costs. Yet little is known about this phenomenon as the major contract manufacturers deliberately hide their names from the public on behalf of brand-name customers such as Apple. In short, the authors argue, globalization is not always helping the IT workers of the world, many of whom are working in unbearable factory conditions. From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen traces the development of the new networks of globalized mass production in the IT industry and the reorganization of work since the 1990s, capturing the systemic nature of an industry-wide restructuring of production and work in the global context. Their wide-ranging and detailed analysis makes an important contribution to ongoing academic and political debates on the globalization of production, especially by taking these debates beyond narrow perspectives of determining criteria of "success" for participation in global production networks. Rather, they emphasize the changing nature of work, employment relations, and labor policies and their implications for the possibilities of sustainable economic and social development. Book jacket Contents 11 Acknowledgments 13 Introduction 17 Digging Deeper: Global Production Networks and the Reshaping of Manufacturing Work 19 Outline 21 1 Bringing the Labor Process Back In 23 Mass Production in the Age of Network Capitalism 25 Theories of International Division of Labor and Global Commodity Chains 29 Transnational Production and Institutional Forms of Regulation 33 Capitalist Restructuring and the Globalization of Norms of Production 37 Neo-Taylorism and the Complexity of Production Regimes 40 Propositions and Outline 43 2 Beyond the New Economy 49 Contract Manufacturing: Career of a Post-Fordist Model of Production 50 From the Belle Époque to the Crisis of Wintelism 55 EMS versus ODM: Contract Manufacturing “with” and “without” Product Development 61 “Trust Is Good, Control Is Better”: Overaccumulation and Recentralization of Production Relationships 67 Restructuring of Brand-Name Global Production Networks 71 ODM and the Changing Interface of Innovation 80 3 Reshaping the International Division of Labor 85 “One-Stop Shopping”: IT Contract Manufacturing across the Triad 86 North America: Network-Based Mass Production in the Age of NAFTA 95 East and Southeast Asia: Global Production and Intraregional Division of Labor 112 Eastern Europe—Low-Cost Location for the European Market 145 Notes 165 4 Global Taylorism? 167 “Common Processes”: The Global Standardization of Work in Electronics Contract Manufacturing 168 Mexico: High-Tech Production beyond Maquiladoras 171 Malaysia: Neo-Taylorism, Women Workers, and Ethnic Segmentation 186 China: Mass Production, Migrant Workers, and Postsocialist Company Paternalism 199 Eastern Europe: Low-Cost Production and Forced Cooperation 216 Notes 231 5 From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen 233 Global Production Networks beyond Wintelism 234 Vertical Reintegration and Industrial Development in Low-Cost Locations 239 Transnational Neo-Taylorism 244 Global Production Networks and Post-Fordist Regulation 247 Global Politics of Production? Approaches to Social and Political Reregulation 252 Abbreviations 259 References 261 Index 275 About the Authors 277 Bringing The Labor Process Back In: Global Production Networks And Work -- Beyond The New Economy: The Global Restructuring Of Production Models In The It Industry -- Reshaping The International Division Of Labor: Global Production Networks In Electronics Contract Manufacturing -- Global Taylorism? Work And Politics Of Production In Low-cost Locations -- From Silicon Valley To Shenzhen: Network-based Mass Production, Industrial Development, And Work. Boy Lüthje, Stefanie Hürtgen, Peter Pawlicki, And Martina Sproll. Revised English Translation Of: Von Silicon Valley Nach Shenzhen : Globale Produktion Und Arbeit In Der It-industrie / Stefanie Hürtgen ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.