Competitive Advantage in the Information Age

Ashoka Mody and David Wheeler
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Ashoka Mody: The World Bank
David Wheeler: Boston University

Chapter 1 in Automation and World Competition, 1990, pp 1-24 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Present-day robots can work tirelessly, and they are rapidly growing cheaper. For relatively simple tasks, they are already facile enough to be competitive with high-cost workers in the OECD countries. Their impact on the industrial process is strikingly conveyed by a European textile executive’s description of a night visit to an automated textile mill in Japan: It is pitch dark… Robots have no eyes, so they need no light. Malfunctions are signalled to a control centre. The problem spot is then lit and a qualified engineer fixes the snag… No more than ten people, boss included, are needed per shift to run the 30,000 ring spindles that represent $22 million in investment.

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Technical Change; Capital Good; Japanese Firm; Auto Industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-11312-5_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-11312-5_1

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