Social Reconstructions Of The World Automobile Industry: Competition, Power And Industrial Flexibility (international Political Economy Series)

This book assesses the varying ways in which automobile assemblers in several countries of East and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas have sought to enhance their efficiency and flexibility in response to heightened global competition during the 1980s and early 1990s. It then explores the implications of such managerial strategies for workers and trade unions, and the responses of unions in seeking to preserve or enhance worker welfare and voice under industrial restructuring. Introduction: Social Reconstructions Of The World Automobile Industry / Frederic C. Deyo -- Transformation Of Industrial Relations In Postwar Japan / Solomon R. Levine -- Japanese Automotive Transplants And The Transfer Of The Japanese Production System / Richard Florida And Martin Kenney -- Industrial Relations In The Korean Auto Industry: The Implications Of Industrial Sector Requirements And Societal Effects For International Competitiveness / Ronald A. Rodgers -- Competition, Flexibility And Industrial Ascent: The Thai Auto Industry / Frederic C. Deyo -- Change, But In What Direction? Divergent Union Reponses To Work Restructuring In The Integrated North American Auto Industry / Pradeep Kumar And John Holmes -- Politics Of Industrial Restructuring: Transnational Firms' Search For Flexible Production In The Mexican Automobile Industry / Kevin J. Middlebrook -- Diversity Of New Work Organization: Human-centered, Lean And In-between / Lowell Turner And Peter Auer -- Regulatory Frameworks And Development In The North American Auto Industry / Stephen Herzenberg -- Conclusion: Competition, Politics And The Social Construction Of Flexible Production Systems / Frederic C. Deyo. Edited By Frederic C. Deyo. Based On The Proceedings Of A Conference Entitled 'global Competition In The Automobile Industry,' Held At The State University Of New York, Brockport, 7-8 May 1991--p. Viii. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Social Reconstructions of the World Automobile Industry....Pages 1-17 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Postwar Japan....Pages 21-50 Japanese Automotive Transplants and the Transfer of the Japanese Production System....Pages 51-83 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Industrial Relations in the Korean Auto Industry: The Implications of Industrial Sector Requirements and Societal Effects for International Competitiveness....Pages 87-135 Competition, Flexibility, and Industrial Ascent: The Thai Auto Industry....Pages 136-156 Front Matter....Pages 157-157 Change, but in what Direction? Divergent Union Responses to Work Restructuring in the Integrated North American Auto Industry....Pages 159-199 The Politics of Industrial Restructuring: Transnational Firms’ Search for Flexible Production in the Mexican Automobile Industry....Pages 200-232 A Diversity of New Work Organization: Human-centered, Lean and In-between....Pages 233-257 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Regulatory Frameworks and Development in the North American Auto Industry....Pages 261-294 Conclusion: Competition, Politics, and the Social Construction of Flexible Labor Systems....Pages 295-308 Back Matter....Pages 309-311 This book assesses the changing organizational and human resource strategies of automobile assembly companies in several countries of East and Southeast Asia Europe and the Americas as these companies seek to enhance their production and organizational flexibility in response to heightened global competition and uncertainty. It discusses the implications of these managerial strategies for workers and trade unions, and the efforts of unions to alter or deflect the strategies in order to preserve and enhance worker welfare and voice. Adopting a political-economy perspective, the book goes beyond the usual emphasis on the determining impact of economic competitive imperatives for corporate strategies to a broader consideration of the role of social conflict and negotiation in the development of new patterns of post-Fordist industrial organization Assesses the varying ways in whcih automobile assemblers in several countries of East and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas have sought to enhance their efficiency and flexibility in response to heightened global competition during the 1980s and earl Industrial relations and human resource management in Japan have experienced steady change since the sweeping labor reforms instituted by the Allied occupation immediately following the end of World War II.