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Full-Text Articles in Business

Three Plants, Three Futures, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

Three Plants, Three Futures, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

To spread teamwork and cooperation, managers need to reform themselves—especially their attitudes about workers. At NUMMI, management has provided a system of work and rewards that has earned the loyalty of most employees and local union leaders.


Nummi – Japanische Produktionskonzepte In Den Usa, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

Nummi – Japanische Produktionskonzepte In Den Usa, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] NUMMI, die Produktionsstätte des Joint-Venture von General Motors und Toyota, hat Modellcharakter für die gesamte US-Automobilindustrie erlangt und gilt mittlerweile als Paradebeispiel fur eine erfolgreiche Reorganisation der Arbeit. Das »Geheimnis« von NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.) liegt - kurz gefaβt - in der Übertragung von japanischen Produktionskonzepten mit entsprechend sozialpartnerschaftlichen Beziehungen zwischen Arbeitnehmern und Management, Teamarbeit, hoher Arbeitsintensität und groβerer Verantwortung der Beschäftigten für ihren Arbeitsbereich in eine gewerkschaftlich organisierte amerikanische Automontagestätte - mit dramatischen Ergebnissen hinsichtlich Produktivität und Produktqualität. Kein Wunder, daβ amerikanische Automobil-Manager - nicht nur bei GM, sondern auch bei Ford und Chrysler - darauf …


The Transformation Of Industrial Relations In Eastern Germany, Ulrich Jürgens, Larissa Klinzing, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

The Transformation Of Industrial Relations In Eastern Germany, Ulrich Jürgens, Larissa Klinzing, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

Citing case studies based on interviews they conducted in 1991 and 1992 with labor representatives and managers at six eastern German manufacturing firms, the authors argue that the future could hold either vigor and growth or stagnation and permanent second-class status for the economy and labor movement in eastern Germany, depending largely on actor strategy and choice. The rapid spread of privatization and open markets is tending to undermine unions' influence, on the one hand; but on the other hand, institutional transfer from former West Germany (especially of codetermination law and centralized, regional-level collective bargaining) is giving unions and works …


Changing Manufacturing Practices: An Appraisal Of The Processual Approach, Patrick M. Dawson Apr 2012

Changing Manufacturing Practices: An Appraisal Of The Processual Approach, Patrick M. Dawson

Patrick Dawson

There has been a longstanding interest in human factors and the processes of change in manufacturing organizations. This paper focuses attention on the establishment and contribution of a processual perspective to understanding change. A history of the processual approach is outlined and some of the main defining elements and ongoing developments are appraised. Field data drawn from a study of cellular work arrangements at a mirror manufacturing plant is used to highlight the interlocking and overlapping dynamics between substance, context, and politics. In advocating the benefits of a processual perspective, it is argued that during the uptake of cellular manufacturing …


The Restructuring Of The Russian Aircraft Manufacturing Sector, Tamilla Curtis, R Clarke Dec 2011

The Restructuring Of The Russian Aircraft Manufacturing Sector, Tamilla Curtis, R Clarke

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

No abstract provided.


Regional Industrial Structure And Agglomeration Economies: An Analysis Of Productivity In Three Manufacturing Industries., Joshua Drucker, Edward Feser Dec 2011

Regional Industrial Structure And Agglomeration Economies: An Analysis Of Productivity In Three Manufacturing Industries., Joshua Drucker, Edward Feser

Joshua Drucker

We investigate whether a more concentrated regional industrial structure – the dominance of a few large firms in a given industry in a region – limits agglomeration economies and ultimately diminishes the economic performance of firms in that industry, especially small ones. In an application to three industries using establishment-level production functions and a combination of confidential and publicly available data sources, we find a consistently negative and substantial direct productivity effect associated with regional industrial structure concentration and only mixed and relatively weak evidence that agglomeration economies are a mediating factor in that effect.