Alfred Chandler attributed the rise of the vertically integrated corporation in the twentieth century to improvements in transportation and communication. In contrast, many have argued that further advances in transportation and communication have made vertical integration obsolete in recent...

Using an original data source, this paper investigates the circumstances under which fmns adopt computer numerical control (cNC), an important type of flexible automation which can significantly increase productionproduct variety and quality. The paper shows that arms'-length supplier/customer...

Over the last 20 years, the success of Japanese manufacturing firms has broughtrenewed attention to the importance of cost reduction on existing products as a source ofproductivity growth. This paper uses survey data and field interviews from the auto supplyindustry to explore the determinants...

Introduction:In the past, efforts to improve the environment almost always led to increasedproduction costs. In fact, some economists have attributed a significant part of the slowdownin productivity growth of the 1970s to increased attention to environmental issues (Gray,1987; Conrad and Morrison,...

The study examines US-European productivity and worker attitude differences, focusing on changes in incentive structures. We analyze productivity and worker attitudes in five plants in the UK and US belonging to the same multinational producer of automotive sensors and actuators. We examine the...