Geography of Production Linkages in the Irish and Scottish Microcomputer Industry: The Role of Logistics
Geography of Production Linkages in the Irish and Scottish Microcomputer Industry: The Role of Logistics
复制标题
爱尔兰和苏格兰微型计算机行业生产联系的地理：物流的作用
DOI：
10.1111/j.1944-8287.2005.tb00271.x
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发表时间：
2005
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
D. Jacobson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chris van Egeraat;D. Jacobson
20世纪70年代中期的经济危机标志着传统的福特产业组织模式向基于时间的竞争模式的转变。据推测，TBC的增加将导致地方和区域生产联系的增加。部分论点是，对物流效率的相关搜索和及时（JIT）原则的采用将导致更紧密的买方和供应商之间的距离。在本文中，我们以爱尔兰和苏格兰的微型计算机硬件行业为例，检验了这一观点的相关性。大多数数据是在与在这两个国家之一开展业务的所有全球微型计算机组装商的子公司进行多次面谈时收集的。该研究表明，装配商不是在本地或区域采购，而是从爱尔兰和英国以外的地区（尤其是远东地区）进口绝大多数材料投入，而且大多数零部件的入境物流管道涉及库存，通常集中在当地仓库中。这种供应系统被解释为伪jit，即按传统福特原则组织的次优入境物流系统。我们认为，物流系统和地理供应联系不应该这样解释。入库库存管理严格，导致目标缓冲水平不高，出货频率高。即使在准时制供应下，生产联系的地理配置和物流系统的细节仍然高度依赖于一系列环境条件和组成部分的特征。这项研究的结果表明，围绕跨国企业的子公司建立一体化垂直生产集群的战略不再适合爱尔兰和苏格兰，至少在微型计算机工业方面不适合。
Abstract The economic crisis of the mid-1970s marked the transition from the traditional Fordist mode of industrial organization to one of time-based competition (TBC). It has been postulated that the rise of TBC will lead to an increase in local and regional production linkages. Part of the argument is that the associated search for logistical efficiency and the adoption of the just-in-time (JIT) principles will lead to closer buyer-supplier proximity. In this article, we test the relevance of this idea in a case study of the microcomputer hardware industry in Ireland and Scotland. Most of the data were collected during multiple interviews with subsidiaries of all global microcomputer assemblers with operations in one of the two countries. The study shows that rather than sourcing locally or regionally, the assemblers import the vast majority of their material inputs from regions outside Ireland and Britain, notably from the Far East, and that the inbound logistics pipelines of most components involve inventories, often hubbed in local warehouses. Such supply systems have been interpreted as pseudo-JIT, suboptimal inbound logistics systems that are organized on traditional Fordist principles. We argue that the logistics systems and the geography of the supply linkages should not be interpreted this way. Inbound inventories were tightly managed, leading to modest target buffer levels and high shipment frequencies. Even under JIT supply, the geographic configuration of production linkages and the details of logistics systems remain highly dependent on a range of contextual conditions and component characteristics. The findings of this study suggest that a strategy of building integrated vertical production clusters around subsidiaries of multinational enterprises is no longer suitable for Ireland and Scotland, at least not in the context of the microcomputer industry.