Inter-firm Linkages and the Diffusion of Programmable Automation

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A key element in improving the capacity of U.S. manufacturers to compete in world markets on both cost and quality is the modernization of production technologies, that is, the adoption of innovations in the processes by which goods are made and services are delivered. This study examines the technical and organizational interdependencies among firms which are important to the diffusion of programmable automation, a process innovation with broad applicability to many manufacturing industries. The study focuses on the system of inter-organizational linkages among three classes of economic organizations: between equipment makers who manufacture programmable machines and machine tool users; among users; and between these users and the customer-firms to whom they are suppliers. The goals of the study are : 1) to develop a richer theoretical understanding of the nature of and the conditions under which ties between organizations are important to the diffusion of programmable automation, and (2) to empirically test hypotheses about these relationships. The researchers will draw on data collected in 1987 in a survey of manufacturing plants as well as results from a resurvey of these plants in 1990. The findings from this study could be extended to process innovations more generally, since programmable automation is applicable to a broad spectrum of industries. These results should contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms necessary to facilitate the more rapid and widespread diffusion of advanced automation technologies.