Ford Motor Company

The Amazon Rainforest is an anthropogenic forest in constant management of forest resources modifying the environment in persistent ways . Even though both hybrid and native rubber trees have been tapped industrially, rubber trees have modified the Amazon Rainforest landscape and population at least since the 19th century until now. The Amazon Rubber Boom and consequent rising of belle époque elites[1] at Amazon is due its economy, which considered rubber by that time as "black gold." In addition, the presence of ghost cities [2]at Amazon, such as Fordland and Belterra, reinforce the collapse of its powerful industry, which abandoned entire factories, planned cities, rubber plantations, and people. During World War II, the Brazilian rubber industry rose again for a few years. Afterwards, rubber tappers and activists made possible the creation of National Extractive Reserves all over the country for sustainable activities. Nowadays, in these reserves, rubber tappers thrive from traditional practices (fishing, hunting, gathering, handicraft, and tapping in a minor scale) and yet their local knowledge and discourses still tell stories about rubber and entanglements in between things, techniques, forest, fungi, animals, humans, and non-humans.

A succession of technological discontinuities and dominant designs between automakers has historically epitomized the automotive industry. This is a complex and uncertain process of innovation in which the technology variable is intertwined with business decisions. In this regard, innovation scholars have questioned the conditions under which the succession of technological discontinuities and dominant designs can be successfully managed. This article joins the debate through a detailed historical analysis of the strategies pursued by Henry Ford from 1896 to 1914. The case study suggests that Ford dynamically managed this succession by pursuing five strategies: 1) experimentation with product architecture; 2) short-term partnerships for knowledge exchange; 3) the democratization of product architecture; 4) a transition from rational to emotional advertising; and 5) the vertical integration of an integrated moving assembly line. Drawing on these insights, we provide theoretical contributions and an original historical comparison of Ford Motor Company with Tesla, Inc.

Download: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv5cg94w
The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. Since the late nineteenth century, it has embodied the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and it has acted as a national barometer of economic success and failure. This book explains how the car industry works and analyses the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth, and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years—factories have shut down, jobs have gone, and brands have disappeared—yet world production has never been so high, reaching new peaks annually. Fabio Cassia and Matteo Ferrazzi investigate as well the new trends of urban mobility and the characteristic of " car of the future " : the traditional landscape of car production and usage will be driven by technological advances, connectivity, car sharing, and by one the most fascinating advances, the self-driving car. How different will be the automotive sector in a decade? Will the traditional players be challenged by new entrants such as Google, Apple, Uber?

First chapter download: https://agendapub.com/images/pdfs/chapters/9781911116721_chp.pdf

The prototype vehicles that Ford Motor Company uses to verify new designs are a major annual investment. A team of engineering managers studying for master's degrees in a Wayne State University program taught at Ford adapted a classroom set-covering example to begin development of the prototype optimization model (POM). Ford uses the POM and its related expert systems to budget, plan, and manage prototype test fleets and to maintain testing integrity, reducing annual prototype costs by more than $250 million. POM's first use on the European Transit vehicle reduced costs by an estimated $12 million. The model dramatically shortened the planning process, established global procedures, and created a common structure for dialogue between budgeting and engineering.

1960'ların sonunda Amerikan otomobil pazarı AMC Gremlin, Chevrolet Vega gibi yerli üretimlerin dışında Volkswagen, Datsun ve Toyota gibi ithal arabaların da pazara sunulmasıyla iyice kızışmıştı. Tüm bu pazar payı savaşının ortasında artan ithalat nedeniyle pazara denge getirmek için Ford Motor Co. küçük -hafif (subcompact) segmenti için yeni model arabasını tasarlamaya başladı. Ford Otomobil Firması yöneticilerinden Lee Iacoca'nın yeni bir modelin tasarımı için ortaya koyduğu özellikler şuydu: "Pinto, 2000 pound'dan ( 907 kg) bir ons daha ağır, 2000 $'dan 1 sent daha pahalı olmayacak!…" Ford yetkilileri yeni modelin1971 yılında oto galerilerinde olmasını istiyordu. Bu yüzden, mühendislik bölümü başkan yardımcısı Bob Alexander'a modern otomotiv tarihindeki en kısa sürede üretimi gerçekleştirmesi için emir verildi. Genelde, yeni bir model arabanın tasarlanmasından üretimine kadar geçen süre yaklaşık 43 aydı ancak Ford firması Pinto programında bu süreyi yaklaşık 25 aya indirmişti.Ford Pinto modeli şirket için çok önemli bir vaka olmasının dışında o zamana kadar şirketin en çok sattığı araçlardan biri de olmuş ve ilk yılında 328.275 adet, üretimi devam eden 10 yıl içerisinde de 2 milyondan fazla bir satış rakamına ulaşmıştır. Ancak Pinto'nun ölümcül bir kusura vardır ve bunu etik bir konu haline getiren Ford çalışanlarının bu kusuru bilmekten öte aracın bu kusurla satışa çıkmasına izin vermelerinin daha az maliyetli olacağını düşünmesiydi.

The auto assembly line can be argued to be a defining moment, a challenge, a social cause, a technological achievement and a political struggle all rolled into a business process; and the name of Henry Ford is usually associated with its start.

Examining archival footage and documents about the cultural work of
silent film during the 1910s and 1920s, this essay reveals the complicity
of film with the work of organized Americanization at both federal and
industrial levels. Specifically, it argues that early American cinema was
complicit with and critical of Americanization, as it negotiated multiple
new Immigrant concerns. Joining the recent work of film and
immigration historians, the article argues that, just as Americanization did not produce compliant citizens overnight, silent film as a new and powerful
medium of persuasion could influence the new American viewers’
transformation only in part. Of particular interest is the use of film in
industrial and educational contexts—which sometimes overlapped—
purporting to both “educate” and Americanize the new immigrants to the
US. It asks: What cultural work did silent film do for Americanization, the
active and sometimes coercive campaign aiming to make new
immigrants into good Americans? The films I read as case studies later in
this essay—industrial, educational, and non-theatrical films such as An
American in the Making (1913), The Making of an American (1920), and
others—illustrate the potential of silent film as both mimesis (or
representation of ideology) and as ideology.

The purpose of this article is to render literature in the organizational behavior field. Powell (1990) contrast three modes of organization-market, hierarchy, and network-and stress the salient features of each. The logic of network forms demonstrate how networks differ from other forms, illustrative examples of network arrangements in craft and high-technology industries, in regional economies, and in formerly vertically integrated fields. The aim is to develop a number of empirically arguments about the circumstances that give rise to networks and allow them to proliferate. The paper concludes with a discussion of the conditions that give rise to network forms. MARKETS AND FIRMS Literature in this paper followed the fields of international business, technology strategy, industrial relations, organizational sociology, and the new institutional economies. Coase (1937) in article on the nature of the firm, conceived firm as a "black box". Williamson's (1975) argument "transaction that involve uncertainty require specific investments"-of money, time or energy that cannot be easily transferred. Transactions are moved out of markets into hierarchy, where inefficiencies of bureaucratic organization preferred to the relatively greater costs of market transactions, for two reasons: bounded rationality and opportunism. Outside boundaries of firms are competitors, while inside managers exercise authority and curb opportunistic behavior. The view that transactions are distributed at points along a continuum implies that markets are the starting point which other methods evolve. As Moses Finley (1973) tells us "only money in the nature of free booty and treasure trove". Williamson remarks "transactions in the middle range are much more common". For high tech start-ups in the U.S. and craft-based firms in Northern Italy, continuum fails to capture the complex realities of exchange, blinds us by reciprocity and collaboration as alternative governance mechanisms. Goldberg (1980) notes that many market exchanges have been replaced by international collaborations.

How an avowed marxist, the son of the most famous industrialist in the United States, and a museologist who already held one of the most prestigious positions in the art world, came together to produce the most famous set of frescoes in Detroit, in the midst of the Great Depression and in a city that epitomized both the good and the bad of the American 20th century industrial era.

The publically traded Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is one of the 500 largest companies in the United States, and has produced the top selling American vehicle for the last 32 years (Miller, 2014).  At the turn of the century, Ford was facing severe financial difficulties and an organizational culture described by some as poisonous (Reed, 2012).  In 2006, William Ford, Jr. decided that he needed an outsider’s help to turn the company around.  The newly hired CEO, Alan Mulally, restructured the company and introduced several policies aimed at creating a new strategic vision and cultural change.  The success of these changes allowed Ford to survive the Great Recession without a federal bailout (Reed, 2012).  Although there is room for improvement, Ford has gone to great lengths to improve the culture of their company and has continued to find success in a tumultuous economic environment.

Dividend policy is a vital part of a corporate’s financing decision.  This dividend-payout policy will determine the amount of earnings that can be retained in the firm as a source of financing (Horne & Wachowicz, 2008).  Over the past 40 years, financial theorists have debated the extent to which dividend policy should and does matter to a firm’s market value and thus its shareholders.  One group of theorists believe that dividend policy is irrelevant to shareholders, through the company’s market value...

Il concetto di fordismo è venuto a designare di volta in volta un apparato di norme e criteri per l’organizzazione scientifica del lavoro, di tecniche per la produzione di massa, una cultura organizzativa della grande fabbrica, un processo omogeneo di governo della società industriale, fino a definire il compromesso sociale del secondo dopoguerra. Partendo da Henry Ford e arrivando a Gramsci, attraverso esperienze come quella italiana, francese e sovietica, il volume propone una complessiva storia comparata del fordismo, o meglio delle diverse idee e pratiche del fordismo che hanno permeato economia e politica nella prima metà del Novecento.

A competitive analysis of the firm, using the theories and models of strategic analysis. Are their vital PEST (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological) factors shaping the industry conditions? Which competitive forces (Porter's 5-Forces Model) on the firm are most intense?

This paper discusses Japanese motor vehicle manufacturing investment and state intervention measures in the Australian market. Australia’s auto industry is an extension of global motor vehicle manufacturers with a small number of domestic manufacturing firms that form a part of the global supply chain.  Toyota Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation, General Motors Corporation and Ford Motor Company all have had extensive investments in the Australian market.  In the past, the Australian market was also a host to investments from Volkswagen AG, Chrysler LLC, Nissan Motor Company Limited and British Leyland Motor Corporation.  The size of the industry has shrunk recently with the March 2008 shut down of manufacturing by Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL), not long after the company’s emergence from a long and significant restructuring.  Still, the auto industry remains the largest single manufacturing sector in Australia both in terms of investment levels and the number of people employed.  Thus, Japanese auto manufacturing investment in Australia require an evaluation, now that the federal government has completed the 2008 ‘Review of Australia’s Automotive Industry’.  The paper focuses on Toyota Motor Corporation Australia (TMC Australia) in Victoria and (the recently shut down) MMAL in South Australia.

The purpose of this article is to render literature in the organizational behavior field. Powell (1990) contrast three modes of organization-market, hierarchy, and network-and stress the salient features of each. The logic of network forms demonstrate how networks differ from other forms, illustrative examples of network arrangements in craft and high-technology industries, in regional economies, and in formerly vertically integrated fields. The aim is to develop a number of empirically arguments about the circumstances that give rise to networks and allow them to proliferate. The paper concludes with a discussion of the conditions that give rise to network forms. MARKETS AND FIRMS Literature in this paper followed the fields of international business, technology strategy, industrial relations, organizational sociology, and the new institutional economies. Coase (1937) in article on the nature of the firm, conceived firm as a "black box". Williamson's (1975) argument "transaction that involve uncertainty require specific investments"-of money, time or energy that cannot be easily transferred. Transactions are moved out of markets into hierarchy, where inefficiencies of bureaucratic organization preferred to the relatively greater costs of market transactions, for two reasons: bounded rationality and opportunism. Outside boundaries of firms are competitors, while inside managers exercise authority and curb opportunistic behavior. The view that transactions are distributed at points along a continuum implies that markets are the starting point which other methods evolve. As Moses Finley (1973) tells us "only money in the nature of free booty and treasure trove". Williamson remarks "transactions in the middle range are much more common". For high tech start-ups in the U.S. and craft-based firms in Northern Italy, continuum fails to capture the complex realities of exchange, blinds us by reciprocity and collaboration as alternative governance mechanisms. Goldberg (1980) notes that many market exchanges have been replaced by international collaborations.

In the early 1920’s when Ford Motor Company had planned to invest in Istanbul, it had already internationalized its industrial capital over six continents. In February 1929, when it received the permission to establish an assembly plant from the Government of Turkish Republic, it had already established 36 assembly plants all over the world, all with access to the sea which assembled the T-Model Fords, which was managed from the main centre in Detroit. This paper scrutinizes the ways and scope Ford Motor Company opted to transfer know-how and technology to its international assembly plants in a selective way when aiming to produce the 'World Car'. Geographically it will concentrate on the technology transfer within the framework of the free zone agreement with Turkey, compared with the technical assistance agreement with the U.S.S.R. Those two stories of technology transfer did indeed were part of an entangled history of the internationalization of the productive capital of FMC.

Arbeitspapier aus der Kommission „Erinnerungskulturen der sozialen Demokratie“
Die Erinnerung an die Migrationsbewegungen der 1960er und 1970er Jahre und an die gewerkschaftliche Migrationspolitik ist sowohl innerhalb als auch außerhalb der Gewerkschaftsbewegung geprägt von Klischees und falschen Legenden. Im Kontext der gewerkschaftlichen Erinnerungspolitik zeugen die bis in die Gegenwart wirkmächtigen Interpretationen und Narrative der 1970er Jahre vom Fehlen einer tiefergehenden Auseinandersetzung einerseits und einer weitgehenden Tendenz, Ambivalenzen zu Gunsten einer Erfolgserzählung auszusparen andererseits. Und das obwohl die Zuwanderung in die Bundesrepublik und auch die oft gegen die Gewerkschaften gerichteten migrantischen Arbeitskämpfe aus heutiger Sicht als eine Erfolgsgeschichte für die Gewerkschaften gelten müssen.

Der Beitrag widerlegt zunächst ausführlich einen bis heute weiter tradierten Mythos, der eine Zustimmung der Gewerkschaften zur Anwerbepolitik behauptet. Der Entstehungszusammenhang dieses Mythos verweist auf Dilemmata, in denen sich Gewerkschaften wiederholt gefangen sehen, wenn es um Fragen der internationalen Mobilität von Arbeitskräften und Zuwanderung geht. Ein  gewerkschaftliches Narrativ über Migrationsgeschichte, das die Ambivalenzen des eigenen Handels in den Vordergrund rückt, zeigt jedoch Auswege aus diesen Dilemmata. Anhand einer kurzen Zusammenfassung von migrantischen Arbeitskämpfen, die entscheidend für bundesdeutsche Geschichte der Arbeitsbeziehung waren, wird deutlich, dass es oft die Momente von Desintegration, Widerspruch und Selbstorganisation jenseits der Gewerkschaften waren, die einen sozialen Fortschritt für die gesamte Arbeiterbewegung auslösten.

La industria automotriz en América Latina estudios de las relaciones entre trabajo, tecnología y desarollo socioeconómico La industria automotriz en América Latina estudios de las relaciones entre trabajo, tecnología y desarrollo socioeconómico

El artículo aborda la ocupación de la planta Ford Motor de General Pacheco (Zona Norte del GBA), acontecida entre el 26 de junio y el 14 de julio de 1985. El objetivo específico radica en analizar las prácticas de la organización interna en la ocupación de esta planta automotriz, intentando vislumbrar la experiencia y la conciencia de militantes y activistas obreros en esta lucha. En la primera parte realizamos una breve referencia a la coyuntura general del período, en la segunda sección establecemos una descripción del hecho y en el tercer apartado presentamos un análisis en base a categorías teóricas de los autores Edward Thompson, Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci y Raphael Samuel.

One of the least discussed topics about the analysis of Fordism is certainly that concerning women. Although the publications have been written about it, a complete research has not been outlined. This article will attempt to analyse the connection between Fordism and gender relations – both internals and externals to the automotive factory – in the period that includes the first decade of the Twentieth Century and the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the Second World War. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of Gramsci in the Quaderni del Carcere about the concept of Fordism, and even to his interpretation of Americanism, Taylorism and «quistione sessuale», thus highlighting the role of women through three sometimes distinct but very often confused figures: womans as a labourer subject to certain industrial policies; woman as a part of the rationalisation process implemented by Henry Ford; woman as a consumer in automotive business of Ford industries.

Ein dickleibiger Foliant, mehrere Hundert Seiten stark, liegt aufgeschlagen vor mir auf einem Holztisch. Wie viele andere Bände zuvor durchblättere ich auch diesen auf der Suche nach relevantem Material für meine Studie. Bei dem Wälzer handelt es sich um den 19. Jahrgang der Allgemeinen Automobil-Zeitschrift von 1918. Ein Fachblatt, das seit seiner Gründung im Jahr 1900 zu den wichtigsten deutschsprachigen Autozeit-schriften zählt 1 und in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin aufbewahrt wird. Diese Bibliothek ist eine der Einrichtungen, die für meine Studie Ford in Inter War Berlin relevante Dokumente sammelt und archiviert. Da im Mittelpunkt dieser Untersuchung die Frage nach der kulturellen Aneignung grenzüberschreitender Wirtschaftsgüter steht, stellt die massenmediale Berichterstattung eine relevante Datenquelle dar. Ganz konkret bin ich auf der Suche nach Nachrichten, Artikeln, Glossen und Leserbriefen über die Ford Motor Company, also nach schriftlichen Äußerungen, die auf das Unternehmen – dessen Engagement in Deutschland, seine Akteur_innen und Produkte – Bezug nehmen. Methodologisch gewendet geht es mir um prozessgenerierte Daten. Diese Datenkategorie stellt immer dann das empirische Material der Wahl dar, wenn es sich um historische und/oder heikle Forschungen handelt.

This article explores the first attempt by American physiologists to assist employers with the stubborn problem of tired workers. It examines the work of Frederic Lee and the Committee on Industrial Fatigue, which was set up to increase productivity in the face of the long hours deemed necessary for war readiness. Despite the biomedical investigators' strenuous efforts and their incisive critique of Taylorism, corporate management found few practical uses for their findings and remedial proposals. Instead, industrial physiology helped to pave the way for rival consultants from psychology.

La industria automotriz constituye una de las actividades más emblemáticas y dinámicas de la nueva orientación exportadora de la economía mexicana, iniciada en la década de 1980 y apuntalada por el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte en 1994. Desde entonces el país ha ocupado un lugar cada vez más importante en la manufactura de vehículos para la región de América del Norte, mediante inversiones masivas de las más importantes firmas multinacionales del automóvil. Después de un primer ciclo de expansión en la década de 1980, en 1994 había 8 plantas de ensamble operando en México, las cuales producían poco menos de un millón de vehículos al año; veinte años después, en 2014, el número de plantas había aumentado a 18 y la producción a 3.2 millones de unidades. Gracias a estas cifras, México se convirtió en el octavo mayor productor de automóviles del mundo y en el cuarto mayor exportador mundial, lo que ha colocado a las exportaciones automotrices como la principal fuente de divisas del país.

Málokdo si dnes uvědomí, že příběh dnes stále více populárních elektromobilů je starý bezmála sto padesát let. Začíná se psát již hluboko v 19. stol. a to, že nakonec tento typ automobilu neuspěl nemá nutně tolik do činění s technologií jako takovou, jako mnohem spíše s mentálním nastavením tehdejší americké společnosti – kde se podstatná část tohoto příběhu odehrála, kulturními preferencemi, společenskými normami a přirozeně i odlišnými požadavky mužů a žen na to, co by automobil měl splňovat. Přitom v roce 1900 bylo téměř třicet procent všech vyrobených automobilů v USA (celkem 4 192 kusů) elektrických. V té době spolu bojovaly automobily na elektrický pohon, na benzín i na páru a většina odborníků věřila v uplatnění všech tří typů. V roce 1920 byl příběh elektrického auta uzavřen. Na plné čáře zvítězil benzínový pohon a elektrické auto  až do 90. let minulého století přežívalo na okraji zájmu odborné i laické veřejnosti.
Co se tedy stalo? Co rozhodlo o tom, že tato technologie prakticky zmizela? Odpovědi bývající často pouze částečné a odpovídají zájmu toho či onoho autora. Teorie sdíleného zájmu tvrdí, že tehdejší korporace jako Standard Oil a General Motors tuto technologii sabotovaly a aktivně proti ní bojovaly kupováním patentů a lobismem. Technologická teorie zase tvrdí, že překážkou byly objektivně neefektivní baterie respektive jejich nedostatečný výkon, tedy množství energie vydané na kilogram jejich váhy. Spotřebitelská teorie naopak vychází z toho, že je to právě zákazník, který rozhoduje o úspěchu výrobku. V tomto případě se jednalo o nejvyšší možnou rychlost a zároveň maximální dojezd elektrického automobilu, které byly v obou případech mnohem nižší ve srovnání s benzínovým motorem. Bohužel všechny tyto teorie jsou buď chybné nebo značně neúplné. Abychom porozuměli příběhu auta, které čekalo prakticky století na svou budoucnost, musíme vzít v potaz Ameriku tehdejší doby, hlavní protagonisty tehdejšího technologického pokroku Tomase Alvu Edisona a Henryho Forda a jejich osobnostní profily, které v tomto směru hrály skutečně významnou roli a v neposlední řadě tehdejší společnost s přihlédnutím ke struktuře osídlení měst a venkova, kvalitě komunikací a povaze zaměstnání a velikosti prudce rostoucí střední třídy počátku dvacátého století.

Despite various reasons for the relatively low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into Turkey throughout the postwar period, Istanbul has proved relatively successful in attracting inward FDI in services in recent years. Increased production by both foreign and domestic manufacturers in the wider Marmara region has also resulted in a concentration of service sector firms in the greater Istanbul metropolitan area. Examination of the profile of foreign investors and investment categories reveals that Germany and the Netherlands remain major sources of investment, and that investment from these two countries shows the most marked signs of functional linkage between manufacturing and service projects. This growth of functional linkage, exemplified by the increased importance of logistics operations, may represent the removal of one more factor inhibiting inward investment into Turkey on a scale appropriate to its size and growth potential.

El presente artículo plantea un acercamiento a una de las problemáticas relacionadas con las luchas entre capital y trabajo en los primeros años de la transición democrática. En particular, nos enfocamos en la ocupación obrera de la planta Ford de General Pacheco –ocurrida entre el 26 de junio y el 14 de julio de 1985– debido a que fue uno de los conflictos más relevante de los que surgieron como respuesta al Plan Austral instrumentado por el gobierno alfonsinista. Su importancia se encuentra relacionada con su masividad y la trascendencia pública que tomó. Si bien la historiografía abordó este conflicto (Hernández, 1985; García Allegrone, Partenio y Álvarez, 2003; Giniger, Guevara, Hernández y Rivero, 2010), la especificidad de este trabajo se encuentra en el intento de relacionarlo con el proceso de consolidación de un relato legitimador del orden democrático impulsado, principalmente, desde el Estado. Entre otras cuestiones, este discurso incluía la “demonización” de las estrategias y prácticas gremiales llevadas a cabo para resistir la ofensiva de la burguesía iniciada a mediados de la década de 1970.

This case study analyses the Customer Benefits Packages and Value Chains of Ford Motors and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, it goes on analyzing these two organizations (product oriented and service oriented respectively) that how they define their operations and strategies in different ways, the ways the management can improve the operations are also identified. Different diagrams are used to support the customer benefit package and the value chain model. Ford motor was established in 1903 by Henry Ford, it is an American multinational company. The headquarters of Ford are in Dearborn the state of Michigan. The main product that the company sells are vehicles either commercial or automobiles. It also sells some luxury vehicles. Ford is a product and service oriented company (Ford 2014, Overview). Whereas Comsats is a service oriented educational institute. Comsats institute of information technology (CIIT) was established in 1998. In 2000 Comsats got a status of DAI (degree awarding institute) because of its achievements by the federal government of Pakistan. the main campus is in Islamabad, Pakistan, besides this campus it has many other campuses in other cities of Pakistan that are located at Lahore, Abbottabad, Wah, Attock, Sahiwal and Vehari, Gujrat, Kotli, Karachi, Larkana, Quetta, and Peshawar and all these campuses are functional (Comsats institute of information technology Lahore campus 2015, About CIIT).

The automotive industry is a highly concentrated sector, with a small number of very large assembly firms and a privileged group of highly globalized transnational suppliers. While increased globalization was a major driving force for the whole industry transformation, in the case of the vehicle assembly the trend was one of increased regional integration within major international markets. ssss

En Julio del 2005 se renovaron las operaciones de la planta de estampado y ensamble de la Ford Motor Co. en Hermosillo, Sonora, después de una ambiciosa expansión y proceso de reorganización. Esta expansión significó la introducción de tres nuevos modelos (Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr), el incremento de la capacidad de 120,000 a 300,000 vehículos anualmente, el establecimiento de un sistema flexible de manufactura, y la reorganización de la red de proveedores de primera línea con el fin de producir los nuevos modelos de acuerdo con el sistema modular. Todos estos aspectos posicionan a esta planta en la frontera tecnológica de la industria automotriz.. 

La inversión para expandir la planta de Ford  y para construir el parquet de proveedores representó más de 2,000 millones de dólares, la mayor inversión  en la industria del automóvil en América del Norte en los últimos 15 años. A partir de ello, Ford-Hermosillo se convierte en una planta flexible de manufactura capaz de producir hasta 10 diferentes modelos  en la plataforma CD3 desarrollada por Mazda G. 

Esta ponencia tiene tres objetivos: (a) mostrar las características de la nueva organización productiva en Ford Hermosillo, (b) analizar las consecuencias de la incorporar de empresas locales en la cadena de suministro, y (c) analizar los mecanismo de transferencia de capacidades gerenciales y de conocimiento en la manufactura como parte de las firmas líderes hacia las empresas locales. La información usada para este análisis proviene de un estudio que concluyó en diciembre del 2005, basado en una encuesta con empresa proveedoras de Ford-Hermosillo y en entrevistas con gerentes de proveedores de primera y segunda línea..

The first free zone law in the Republican Turkey passed in 1927 and it was the Ford Motor Company who made use of this legislation for its 1929 Tophane car assembly factory.

After 80 years another world giant, The Foxconn Inc., the company with the biggest share at the Chinese export market, invests in Çorlu European Free Zone in Tekirdağ to produce desktop computers for HP.

What has changed?

What have been / are the most important spatial dynamics of capitalism during these 80 years that are traceable by contrasting these two export-oriented investments?

How are the working conditions of isolated workers at free zones?