Technological practices in the European auto industry: Exploring cases from Belgium, Germany and Portugal

Moniz, António and Krings, Bettina and Van Hootegem, Geert and Huys, Rik (2001): Technological practices in the European auto industry: Exploring cases from Belgium, Germany and Portugal. Published in: Proceedings Rencontre International GERPISA No. 9 (June 2001): pp. 1-23.

Abstract

The relation between work organisation and technological practices in auto industry is analysed in this article. The concept of “technological practice” in this sector is used to describe the specific ways of embedding information and communication technology applications into the organizational forms and cultural patterns. This concept was developed with the Sowing project (TSER, DG XII) and that approach included either the shop floor co-operation up to the regionally based networks of companies and supporting institutions. The authors studied different sectors in the automotive firms of different European countries (Germany, Belgium and Portugal): shopfloor and production lines, design and management and the local inter-relationships. It was underlined some evidencies of the different alternatives in terms of technological practices for the same sector. Much of the litterature try to disseminate an idea of a single (and optimum) organisational model for the same type of product. And here, even with the same type of technology, and of product (medium-high range), one can find different models, different cultures, different ways of organising the industrial structure (firms, regional institutions, R&D centres) in the same sector (auto industry).

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Automobile sector; technological practice; Information and Communication Technologies; work organisation; industrial structure; production models
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L23 - Organization of Production; L - Industrial Organization > L6 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing > L62 - Automobiles ; Other Transportation Equipment ; Related Parts and Equipment; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity

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