Collaborative Research: Global Innovation and the Changing Nature of Domestic Engineering Work

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Innovation is increasingly undertaken on a global scale. More and more financial capital used to spur innovation in U.S. firms is spent abroad: domestic companies employ scientists and engineers in other countries to take advantage of highly skilled workers while simultaneously cutting costs. This research examines whether and how innovation investment that leads to task-based offshoring changes the nature of occupational work in domestic U.S. firms. The research builds on previously funded NSF work which examined how advanced innovation technologies were changing the nature of engineering work. It examines the possibility that innovation investments act as an exogenous force that provides the occasion for firms to restructure, and hence act as a catalyst for offshoring. The research also examines the consequences for the firms' ability to succeed in international markets. The particular focus of the research is on the experience at General Motors (GM): as part of its response to the current economic crisis, the U.S. government has extended GM 13.4 billion in federal loans. With these loans, GM is restructuring its global operations, including engineering. The study thus advances understanding of the impact of science investments with respect to occupational structures and global labor market. The study design involves field research at four of GM's global engineering centers located in Warren Michigan, U.S., Bangalore India, Sao Palo, Brazil, and Russelsheim, Germany. The results of interviews with engineering managers and engineers at all four of the research locations are analyzed. Additionally, network methods permit the exploration of changes in structure by uncovering patterns of communication between engineers and others with whom they interact to accomplish their work. There are at least three important ways in which the research has a broader impact. First, the study reveals, in the context of automotive engineering, how innovation investments are changing the domestic workforce through internationalization. This information can inform policy decisions about future investments that change the structure and content of innovation work at home and abroad. Second, the project provides a detailed ethnographic documentation of the changes in structure and content of domestic jobs as innovation work becomes offshored. Third, the research advances understanding of how work is changing and thus helps tease out both what factors are important for determining how work tasks should be distributed in global firms and what types of technologies should be implemented to facilitate the transfer of tasks.