NIDL (1950s-)

NIDL (1950s-)

1. Causes

   • transport and comm tech
   • fragmentation and spatial flexibility of production
   • cheapest location to mfg, tap global labour
     • based on comparative adv
     • outsourcing

2. comparative advantage

   • can produce a good at a lower OC than other countries
     • labour land raw material and capital costs

3. Internationalisation and specialisation of economic activities

   • share of manufacturing between industrial and non-indust. economies
     • de-industrialisation of DCs
     • increased global production in NIE
   • k outflow on global scale: trend of transference/global shift
     • outsourcing

4. case study: automobiles

   • initial self-contained entities of assembly lines
   • 1990s: increasing differentiation/high-skilled customization
     • more complex stages of production
       • Just-In-Time
     • offshoring of assembly plants to LDCs: China, Bangladesh, Vietnam
       • industrialisation of LDCs
     • design and R&D in DCs
     • common outsourcing
       • VAC, VW and Audi models share common components

5. impact of new technologies on work

   • Changes in production
     • Fordism > Post-Fordism
       • Fordism
         • mass production: structured assembly-line mfg
         • homogenous products
         • labour-intensive
         • Just-in-case production
         • De-skilling
           • reduction of scope to one/a few specialised tasks (Fordism)
       • Post-Fordism
         • new FLEXIBLE production based on information technlogoies
           • just-in-time
           • reskilling
           • Production process
             • more production chain linkages
               • subcontracting
               • agglomeration economies
               • concentrated in technopoles
             • rationalisation: downsizing of workforce, same productivity
             • restructuring: greater efficiency
             • specialisation of firms
           • Organisation within firm
             • lean manufacturing techno: toyotism
             • Just-In-Time
             • Total Quality Management
             • functionally flexible workers
             • Increasing productivity thru IT
           • Labour
             • less assembly-line specialisation
             • Re-skilling
               • learning skills to meet changing demands; flexible specialisation
             • more teamwork
         • mass customisation, quality management
         • capital intensive
   • re-industrialisation of DCs
     • return to manufacturing with new industries
     • high-tech, small manufacturing