Synergy between Direct and Representative Forms of Employee Voice: Evidence from the European Car Components Industry

This paper analyses the implications of combining direct and representative forms of worker participation for business performance. Direct participation refers to such things as quality control circles, continuous improvement teams and other problem-solving groups, while representatwe participation refers to joint consultation committees,including those between works councils and management. Using a 1994 survey of first-tier automotive parts plants in Europe, this paper finds evidence that better quality and information sharing result born having both forms of worker participation than having one or the other. The survey also shows that in the fist half of the 1990s, there has been a rapid diffusion of direct participation (together with a commitment to employment security) and a moderate diffusion of indirect participation mechanisms in the UK. While not ruling out legislation, the paper concludes by drawing implications of this finding for a further discussion of these practices through voluntary means

Suppliers' Associations in the Japanese Automobile Industry

This paper analyzes the structure and functions of suppliers' associations (kyoryokukai) in the automobile industry in Japan. The bilateral assembler-supplier relationship has received much attention recently as a source of Japanese industrial competitiveness. However, this paper argues that the hitherto neglected area of inter-supplier coordination in technology diffusion is at least as important as the bilateral assembler-supplier relationship in accounting for the overall performance of the Japanese automotive industry. On the basis of company visits and a largescale survey of first-tier suppliers conducted by the author, the paper analyzes the reasons why suppliers' associations were established, why they continue to exist today, and their effects on economic performance

Emergent Dualism in the UK Automotive Industry: Should we be Concerned?

Are car assembly plants which have adopted 'lean production' trading with 'lean' parts suppliers? Or are they using suppliers as buffers and as sources of low cost labour? This paper examines these questions empirically by using official statistics in the UK, US, Germany and Japan. In the UK, there is evidence of parallel reduction in inventories at suppliers and assemblers in the 1980s, but also of growing productivity and wage gaps between the two groups. It is argued that management, unions and policy-makers should all be concerned about this emergent dualism in the UK automotive industry, and that attention should be paid to the mechanisms for diffusing innovative practices from assemblers to suppliers

Does Trust Improve Business Performance?

No Abstract Provide

Global Strategies in the Legal Services Market: Institutional Impacts on Value Chain Dynamics

What alternative strategies are being pursued by firms to capture profit in global value chains? In what ways are the sources of competitive advantage changing as they move up the value chain from low end to high end work, potentially changing the structure and boundary of the existing industry? This paper examines these questions by focusing on the outsourcing and offshoring of legal services, known as Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO). Legal services were chosen for study in order to highlight the relevance of both technological and institutional factors that influence value chain dynamics. In particular, the study examines how the nature of professions impact on make-or-buy decisions and industry structure. The legal services value chain is conceptualized as consisting of three blocks, namely knowledge and information management (KIM), consultative advice and representation (CAR), and client relationship management (CRM). The study shows that legal services are being unbundled, with the KIM component being separated by ownership and geography from CAR and CRM components. To assess the actual extent of disintegration, the study identifies the conditions under which demand and supply for LPO services is generated. Those conditions on the demand side include the corporatization of law firms and pressures on global corporations to cut legal costs. From the supply perspective, the study identified three distinctive strategies for LPO providers to capture profit, depending on their mode of entry influencing their initial capability mix, and whether or not the value chain is driven by a corporation or a law firm

MIT International Motor Vehicle Programme Modularization and Outsourcing Project Preliminary Report of European Research Team

No Abstract Provide

Determinants of Trust in Supplier Relations: Evidence from the Automotive Industry in Japan and the United States

This study examines the determinants of inter-organizational trust by using survey data from just over 1000 suppliers in the automotive industry. We define trust and derive a model of its determinants from transaction cost economics, game theory and sociological exchange theory. Regression analysis results indicate that determinants of trust are different from determinants of opportunism. US-Japanese differences are found in three respects: (i) the way trust is conceptualised by suppliers is richer in Japan than in the US; (ii) the level of trust is higher in Japan than in the US; and (iii) the factors facilitating trust and those attenuating opportunism differ in the US and Japan