QUALITY ISSUES FOR KOREAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Summary Rising wages and an appreciating exchange rate currency forced Korean exporters of manufactured goods to try to move up?market at the end of the 1980s. This involves improving both product specification and conformance to standards. The Korean government is actively promoting improved quality systems in manufacturing as a means of enhancing competitiveness. Large Korean firms have much in their favour in this area ? particularly their technological competence and a well?educated labour force. However, poor industrial relations and the poor quality of smaller supplier firms are obstacles which need to be overcome if Korea is to compete with advanced industrial countries in terms of quality. Résumé L'augmentation des salaires et l'appréciation de la devise coréenne ont forcé les exportateurs Coréens d'articles fabriqués en usine à tenter, vers la fin des années 1980, un rehaussement qualitatif vers le haut?de?gamme. Cecia fait appel à une double amélioration: celle de la spécification même des produits, et celle de leur conformité aux normes. Le gouvernement coréen cherche actuellement à promouvoir les systèmes de qualité dans la fabrication comme moyen de mise en valeur de la compétivité. Dans ce domaine, les entreprises de grande envergure possèdent beaucoup d'atouts, notamment en ce qui concerne leurs aptitudes technologiques et la disponibilité d'une force ouvrière hautement éduquée. Toutefois, les faibles relations industrielles et la faible qualité des fournisseurs de moindre envergure représentent des obstacles qu'il faudra impérativement vaincre si la Corée veut concourir, au niveau de la qualité, avec les pays industriels avancés. Resumen El alza de los salarios y el aumento en el tipo de cambio forzaron a los exportadores coreanos de productos manufacturados a tratar de mejorar la calidad al final de la década del 80. Esto supone mejorar tanto las especificaciones del producto como la conformidad a las pautas de calidad. El gobierno de Corea está promoviendo activamente sistemas perfeccionados de calidad en la fabricación como un medio para estimular la competitividad. Las compañías grandes tienen mucho a su favor en esta área ? particularmente su capacidad tecnológica y su personal bien adiestrado. Sin embargo, las relaciones industriales insatisfactorias y la baja calidad en las pequeñas compañías proveedoras son obstáculos que necesitan ser superados si Corea espera competir con países industriales avanzados en términos de calidad

Value chain governance in the age of platforms

Global value chain (GVC) theory focuses globalisation in the late 20th century. While the theory claims to apply generally to interfirm relationships, much of GVC analysis has focused on the incorporation of developing country manufacturers into the supply chains of global lead firms. This literature has frequently expressed doubts about whether integration into such chains offers opportunities for innovation and upgrading. More recently, globalised production has seen the emergence of market and technology platforms and platform leaders. The distinctive feature of platforms is that they require innovation by other companies to turn platforms into products. Analysis of platform governance can contribute to the further development of GVC governance theory. Using secondary material on platform leaders such as Intel and Apple and primary research on Chinese-owned mobile phone companies, the paper shows how examination of governance in the context of platforms allows a recuperation of understudied and undertheorised elements of GVC governance theory

Rethinking the role of suppliers in global value chain theory

GVC governance theory explains the management of interfirm relationships in the context of offshoring and outsourcing in the latter part of the 20th century. It emphasises the power of lead firms to shape the new global supply chains that were developed at this time. Parsimonious theorising combined with lead firm power has led to criticisms that the theory is determinist and fails to allow for the agency of the non-lead firms that are often referred to as suppliers. Critics have argued that more attention needs to be given to supplier agency and capability formation in the places where value chains touchdown in the global economy. This contribution argues that the weaknesses of GVC governance theory lie in its limited conception of the capability approach to industrial organisation and its focus on efficient government solutions at a given point in time. Introducing a dynamic capability perspective makes it possible to understand the circumstances in which suppliers are likely to possess capabilities that are valuable to their customers and allows a movement away from a static, equilibrium perspective. However, this view of suppliers does not rule out the importance of structural constraints on firm opportunities. The role of architectural manipulation in creating power asymmetries in GVCs is discussed

PastPlace: the historical gazetteer service from the people who brought you A Vision of Britain through Time

The PastPlace API offers a simple web service, responding to a variety of queries by returning information from the same database as underlies the Vision of Britain web site, in a range of structured formats. These queries can be typed into a web browser as URLs, and the response viewed in the browser. However, the queries would more usually be sent by another server on the web, and the response processed by that server. That server might itself be creating web pages for use by the general public, but it might also be a cataloguing or records management system, using our API as a name authority. This poster is the first public description of the servic