Maquiladoras in the 21st century: Six strategies for success

John Hadjimarcou, Lance E. Brouthers, Jason P. McNicol and Donald E. Michie

Business Horizons, 2013, vol. 56, issue 2, 207-217

Abstract: The maquiladora industry was conceived as a win-win strategic economic platform for foreign companies and Mexican workers. The primary benefactor has been U.S. companies, which became more cost efficient by employing highly productive, lower-cost Mexican workers. However, the direct link between the U.S. economy and the corresponding employment of Mexican workers has resulted in unpredictable growth-retrenchment cycles. While the globalization of trade has grown dramatically, the maquiladoras have been slow to adapt to new trade realities, including the rise of China as a global manufacturing power. The more intense global competition and the recent financial crisis have challenged Mexico's structural deficiencies and the maquiladora model with its focus on low-cost labor. Can the maquiladoras remain viable in this seemingly unpredictable economic environment? In this article, we provide a brief history of the maquiladoras, discuss the new external trade environment realities, and offer six strategies that can transform the maquiladoras into a sustainable economic model well into the future.

Keywords: Mexico; Maquiladoras; Free and Secure Trade (FAST); NAFTA; Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT); China threat (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681312001619
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:56:y:2013:i:2:p:207-217

DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2012.11.005

Access Statistics for this article

Business Horizons is currently edited by C. M. Dalton

More articles in Business Horizons from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().