Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF Author: Roger Blanpain
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041130527
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Get Book Here

Book Description
This important study—based on a three-year empirical research project in seven countries—focuses on employment relations in the auto assembly industry and shows that the influence of globalisation is tempered to varying degrees by institutional employment patterns at the local level. Twenty-one scholars and researchers representing all seven countries analyse the data, clearly describe the differences across both countries and firms, and offer conclusions and recommendations that greatly facilitate our understanding of the globalisation process at the level of human resources in industrial production. For each of the seven countries—two liberal market economies (the United States and Australia), two coordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden), and three Asian market economies (Japan, South Korea, and China)—the book describes five key issues in detail: work organisation; skill formation; remuneration systems; staffing arrangements and employment security; and enterprise governance and employee–management relations. The authors offer in-depth comparative analysis of these central issues in the context of such overriding factors as corporate strategy, local institutional constraints and advantages, competitive pressures among automakers to capture emerging markets, power relations within firms, and the role that agency and interests play in shaping social action.

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF Author: Roger Blanpain
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041130527
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Get Book Here

Book Description
This important study—based on a three-year empirical research project in seven countries—focuses on employment relations in the auto assembly industry and shows that the influence of globalisation is tempered to varying degrees by institutional employment patterns at the local level. Twenty-one scholars and researchers representing all seven countries analyse the data, clearly describe the differences across both countries and firms, and offer conclusions and recommendations that greatly facilitate our understanding of the globalisation process at the level of human resources in industrial production. For each of the seven countries—two liberal market economies (the United States and Australia), two coordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden), and three Asian market economies (Japan, South Korea, and China)—the book describes five key issues in detail: work organisation; skill formation; remuneration systems; staffing arrangements and employment security; and enterprise governance and employee–management relations. The authors offer in-depth comparative analysis of these central issues in the context of such overriding factors as corporate strategy, local institutional constraints and advantages, competitive pressures among automakers to capture emerging markets, power relations within firms, and the role that agency and interests play in shaping social action.

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF Author: Roger Blanpain
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041126988
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
Describes work organization, skill formation, remuneration systems, staffing arrangements and employment security, and enterprise governance and employee-management relations in seven countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and China.

When Good Jobs Go Bad

When Good Jobs Go Bad PDF Author: Jeffrey S. Rothstein
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813576083
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Get Book Here

Book Description
From Chinese factories making cheap toys for export, to sweatshops in Bangladesh where name-brand garments are sewn—studies on the impact of globalization on workers have tended to focus on the worst jobs and the worst conditions. But in When Good Jobs Go Bad, Jeffrey Rothstein looks at the impact of globalization on a major industry—the North American auto industry—to reveal that globalization has had a deleterious effect on even the most valued of blue-collar jobs. Rothstein argues that the consolidation of the Mexican and U.S.-Canadian auto industries, the expanding number of foreign automakers in North America, and the spread of lean production have all undermined organized labor and harmed workers. Focusing on three General Motors plants assembling SUVs—an older plant in Janesville, Wisconsin; a newer and more viable plant in Arlington, Texas; and a “greenfield site” (a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility) in Silao, Mexico—When Good Jobs Go Bad shows how global competition has made nonstop, monotonous, standardized routines crucial for the survival of a plant, and it explains why workers and their local unions struggle to resist. For instance, in the United States, General Motors forced workers to accept intensified labor by threatening to close plants, which led local unions to adopt “keep the plant open” as their main goal. At its new factory in Silao, GM had hand-picked the union—one opposed to strikes and committed to labor-management cooperation—before it hired the first worker. Rothstein’s engaging comparative analysis, which incorporates the viewpoints of workers, union officials, and management, sheds new light on labor’s loss of bargaining power in recent decades, and highlights the negative impact of globalization on all jobs, both good and bad, from the sweatshop to the assembly line.

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry

Globalization and Employment Relations in the Auto Assembly Industry PDF Author: Roger Blanpain
Publisher: Kluwer Law International
ISBN: 9789041126986
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
"[This book] describes work organization, skill formation, remuneration systems, staffing arrangements and employment security, and enterprise governance and employee-management relations in seven countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and China."--

After Lean Production

After Lean Production PDF Author: Thomas A. Kochan
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150173167X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
Nearly every country that produces cars views the automobile industry as strategically important because of its direct economic significance and because it serves as a bellwether for innovation in employment conditions. In this book, industrial relations experts from eleven countries consider the state of the industry worldwide. They are particularly interested in assessing whether the loudly heralded model of lean production initiated by Toyota has become pervasive.The contributors focus on employment practices: the way work is organized, how workers and managers interact, the way worker representatives respond to lean production strategies, and the nature of the adaptation and innovation process itself.

Work Organizational Reforms and Employment Relations in the Automotive Industry

Work Organizational Reforms and Employment Relations in the Automotive Industry PDF Author: Kenichi Shinohara
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000635295
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 85

Get Book Here

Book Description
General Motors (GM)'s attempt to adapt the renowned Toyota production system for its own automotive manufacturing plants had historically produced disappointing results. Why was it not sufficiently successful? This book aims to shed insights into GM's failed attempt through the analysis of work organization reforms and labor-management relations on production-system efficiency. The book examines collective bargaining agreements between automakers and the United Auto Workers union and the arbitration rulings in retrospect to illuminate the critical role continuous improvement activities initiated by production workers would play in enhancing performance management. It also looks at the impact of the meritocratic system in Japanese auto plants on performance success. As GM begins operations at its new electric vehicle assembly plant, Factory Zero, the book analyses the challenges of such production for both employment relations and workforce deployment. The book will be a useful reference for those interested in a comparative study of management styles and a better understanding of Japanese manufacturing practices.

Flexibility at Work

Flexibility at Work PDF Author: V. Pulignano
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230581935
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
An examination of the form and character of recent transformations in the international automobile industry. Using comparative and national-based case study analysis, it explores the nature of such recent developments (outsourcing, modularization, high performance workplaces, etc.) and their impact on issues in the sector on a world scale.

Inside China's Automobile Factories

Inside China's Automobile Factories PDF Author: Lu Zhang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107030854
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Inside China's Automobile Factories, Lu Zhang explores the current conditions, subjectivity, and collective actions of autoworkers in the world's largest and fastest-growing automobile manufacturing nation. Based on years of fieldwork and extensive interviews conducted at seven large auto factories in various regions of China, Zhang provides an inside look at the daily factory life of autoworkers and a deeper understanding of the roots of rising labor unrest in the auto industry. Combining original empirical data and sophisticated analysis that moves from the shop floor to national political economy and global industry dynamics, the book develops a multilayered framework for understanding how labor relations in the auto industry and broader social economy can be expected to develop in China in the coming decades.

The Global Automotive Industry

The Global Automotive Industry PDF Author: Paul Nieuwenhuis
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118802322
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
The automotive industry is still one of the world's largest manufacturing sectors, but it suffers from being very technology-focused as well as being relatively short-term focused. There is little emphasis within the industry and its consultancy and analyst supply network on the broader social and economic impacts of automobility and of the sector that provides it. The Global Automotive Industry addresses this need and is a first port of call for any academic, official or consultant wanting an overview of the state of the industry. An international team of specialist researchers, both from academia and business, review and analyse the key issues that make vehicle manufacturing still the world’s premier manufacturing sector, closely tied in with the fortunes of both established and newly emerging economies. In doing so, it covers issues related to manufacturing, both established practices as well as new developments; issues relating to distribution, marketing and retail, vehicle technologies and regulatory trends; and, crucially, labour practices and the people who build cars. In all this it explains both how the current situation arose and also likely future trajectories both in terms of social and regulatory trends, as the technological, marketing and labour practice responses to those, leading in many cases to the development of new business models. Key features Provides a global overview of the automotive industry, covering its current state and considering future challenges Contains contributions from international specialists in the automotive sector Presents current research and sets this in an historical and broader industry context Covers threats to the industry, including globalization, economic and environmental sustainability The Global Automotive Industry is a must-have reference for researchers and practitioners in the automotive industry and is an excellent source of information for business schools, governments, and graduate and undergraduate students in automotive engineering.

Social Reconstructions of the World Automobile Industry

Social Reconstructions of the World Automobile Industry PDF Author: Frederic C. Deyo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349248975
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.