Flexibility and Formalization: Rethinking Space and Governance in Corporations and Manufacturing Regions

Gary Herrigel

Chapter 9 in Change in SMEs, 2008, pp 152-170 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter rethinks assumptions about space and governance that have structured debate concerning flexible production within old-line manufacturing industries over the last 20 years in the United States and Europe. Two assumptions, in particular, are reexamined. The first is that industrial communities are located in specific and discreetly bounded territories in which social1 and territorial proximity perfectly overlap.2 The second assumption (often embedded in discourses about trust and informality) is that flexibility and cooperation are possible where formal organizational rules fail to apply, or where they are so general that one must rely on informal cooperation and tacit knowledge in order to get anything done. In much of the literature on cooperation and flexible production systems, producers are simply generalizations of the old sociological notion of a craft producer who turns the limitations of formal rule into a virtue in contexts where production volume is low, the demand for customization high and/or where demand is volatile and frequently changing (Stinchcombe 1959; Sabel 1981; Piore and Sabel 1984).

Keywords: Supply Chain; Role Ambiguity; Industrial District; Industrial Community; Governance Rule (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:pal:palchp:978-0-230-22778-1_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230227781

DOI: 10.1057/9780230227781_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().