A New Era of Flexibility? Some Evidence and Problems from the Petrochemicals Industry

D Gibbs and T Jenkins
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D Gibbs: Centre for Employment Research, Manchester Polytechnic, St Augustine's, Lower Chatham Street, Manchester M15 6BY, England
T Jenkins: Environment and Industry Research Unit, Manchester Polytechnic, St Augustine's, Lower Chatham Street, Manchester M15 6BY, England

Environment and Planning A, 1991, vol. 23, issue 10, 1429-1446

Abstract: The debate over the notion of ‘flexibility’ has centred around evidence from a small number of industrial sectors. In this paper, the petrochemicals industry is examined for evidence of a shift towards flexibility. It is concluded that there is evidence of both a move towards flexible production and organisation and a move towards the retention of commodity production. In so doing, three problems in the flexibility argument are dealt with; the breakup of mass markets, the potential for small firms, and the engineering-derived nature of the approach.

Date: 1991
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:23:y:1991:i:10:p:1429-1446

DOI: 10.1068/a231429

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