Employee work values and organizational attachment in North Mexican maquiladoras

Maquiladoras in Northern Mexico are currently plagued by low organizational attachment among production workers. Workers often feel little psychological commitment to their maquiladora, and turnover rates in the plants average about 10 per cent per month. In this study we examine the role that work values play in maquiladora workers' attachment to their organizations. An analysis of data from 227 production workers in two maquiladoras reveals that the upward-striving value (a desire continually to seek a higher-level job) is positively associated with turnover intentions and negatively associated with organizational commitment, while the social-status-of-job value (the perception that a good job merits respect) is positively associated with organizational commitment. The findings offer guidance to managers and management scholars attempting to understand and combat the organizational attachment problem in Northern Mexico.     

Strategic international human resource management approaches in the maquiladora industry: a comparison of Japanese,Korean and US firms

The maquiladora option has made Mexico an increasingly attractive off-shore manufacturing site for multinational enterprises (MNEs) seeking global competitiveness. However, MNEs often encounter human resource management (HRM) challenges as they attempt to leverage these maquiladora benefits. MNEs use three approaches to international human resource management (IHRM) design in addressing these challenges – a mechanistic, ‘control’ approach; a paternalistic, ‘human relations’ approach; and a developmental, ‘human resource’ approach. This paper compares and contrasts these IHRM design approaches in Japanese, Korean and US maquiladora manufacturing operations in Mexico, identifies implications for the management of diversity based on these findings, and discusses the related competitiveness implications.     

Congressional Voting Patterns on NAFTA

A bstract . On December 8, 1993 President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement and in doing so he brought to a close the lengthy political process that produced the trade agreement. This paper combines information for individual legislators with state-level economic data to conduct an empirical analysis of the House and Senate voting patterns on NAFTA. Results from the logit model estimation confirm that expected job gains/losses, the presence of organized labor and political ideology (as represented by political party) were significant predictors of a legislator's vote on NAFTA. In addition, the expected impact of NAFTA on the environment was found to be somewhat important in explaining Congressional voting patterns for a free trade agreement with Mexico.     

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE MAQUILADORA INDUSTRY IN MEXICO: AN INTERINDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Maquiladora industries, composed of assembly plants, play a central role in Mexico's development strategy. The author establishes that current low usage of domestic inputs by the maquiladora industries prevents Mexico from enginning the rest of the economy through secondary impacts to expand the national market. Furthermore, the economy is also affected, through diminished domestic linkages, from increasing the value added in Mexico and tax collection. An interindustry input-output model for the Mexican economy with emphasis on the maquiladora industries was developed. Among the findings, it is stressed that input purchases linkages are more effective than worker spending as a way to generate secondary output, income and jobs. This implies that increasing domestic input purchases by maquiladora industries could represent important potential advantages for the Mexican economy.     

The weak linkages between processing exports and the internal economy. The Mexican case

The aim of this paper is to show the internal linkages of manufacturing exports and the rest of the economy. We take the Mexican economy as the case of study. Manufacturing exports constitute the most of exports and processing exports (maquiladora) represent an important part of them. We consider the indirect domestic value added contained in Mexican manufacturing exports, dividing them into exports from the internal economy and the maquiladora industry. We show that the internal backward linkages of exports are weak, that only a few sectors produce inputs for exports, and that the forward linkages are weak too because the Mexican maquiladora industry assembles imported parts and components into final goods for export. The actual picture is quite different from that presented by Hirschman [(1958) The Strategy of Economic Development. New Haven, Yale University Press], who argued that the manufacturing sector plays a key role to promote economic growth because of its dense forward and backward internal linkages.     

Trade Liberalization and Pollution: An Input–Output Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Mexico

This paper examines the environmental effects associated with Mexico's participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The objective is to provide quantitative estimates of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from changes in the level and structure of production and consumption activity in Mexico following a liberalization of trade. The quantitative analysis was performed using input–output methods with fuel use modifications to account for CO₂ emissions before and after NAFTA's implementation. As a result of NAFTA, CO₂ emissions are expected to increase from the anticipated increase in the size of the Mexican economy. While total emissions increase as a result of tariff elimination, there is also a shift in the structure of production and final consumption away from those sectors that are the most C02 intensive.     

Economies of scale in the Mexican automotive sector

Recent growth of the Mexican motor vehicle industry has sparked a great deal of controversy on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border regarding the potential effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement. One of the key factors affecting the future competitiveness of the Mexican motor vehicle industry relative to U.S. producers is whether the Mexican firms can exploit economies of scale as their output expands. This article investigates that possibility as well as the direct and cross-price elasticities of demand for the inputs by estimating translog cost functions for the Mexican motor vehicle and autoparts industries. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that substantial economies of scale remain to be exploited by the Mexican motor vehicle industry, but that the autoparts industry is operating with diseconomies of scale. However, the lack of investment in new technology and X-inefficiency on the part of the autoparts firms may have been partially responsible for the latter finding.     

David Dubinsky,the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Limits of Social Democratic Trade Unionism

Unlike Parmet’s (2005) well-written and thoroughly researched biography and many other generally admiring books and articles on David Dubinsky, the former International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) president from 1932 to 1966, this essay contends that even though Dubinsky initiated important developments within the ILGWU and fought heroically against Nazism and Fascism, his right-wing social democratic worldview was ultimately divisive to the achievement of national and international working class unity. Dubinsky’s political positions become evident through his vigorous anti-Communism which he engaged in with regards to his dealings with Communists in the ILGWU, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the American Labor Party. Moreover, the exporting of his anti-Communism abroad via the American Federation of Labor’s Free Trade Union Committee and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions damaged international working class unity through the sabotaging of radical trade unionism not only in Western Europe but in nations around the globe. Understanding Dubinsky’s anti-Communism is the key for ultimately comprehending the garment union leader’s politics.     

PUBLIC CHOICE THEORY, PROTECTIONISM AND THE CASE OF NAFTA

Public choice theory suggests that the political process has an in-built tendency to promote protectionist measures favoured by organised interest groups rather than trade liberalisation that would benefit society as a whole. But the example of the North American Free Trade Agreement shows that political campaigns in support of free trade can successfully mobilise public opinion to neutralise the power of special-interest groups. Therefore, it is imperative that politicians and others who believe in free trade remind the public of its benefits.     

TQM practice in maquiladora: Antecedents of employee satisfaction and loyalty

In this study, we investigate the transferability of TQM practices to offshore manufacturing firms by validating direct and indirect relationships among top management commitment, HR-focused TQM practices, employee satisfaction, and employee loyalty. Our research objective is to isolate critical TQM practices that would enhance employee satisfaction and loyalty among maquiladora workers. On-site surveys were conducted at two leading maquiladora firms that have long implemented TQM. The statistical results indicate that employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee compensation have a significant and positive influence on employee satisfaction. The improved employee satisfaction leads to a higher level of employee loyalty. In addition, the results indicate that the effects of top management commitment on employee empowerment and teamwork are significantly mediated by employee training, implying that the success of employee empowerment and quality teams can be dependent upon the level of employee training.     

“10＋1”自由贸易区新阶段广西外贸发展对策研究

随着中国-东盟自由贸易区建设步入全面实施的新阶段,作为中国与东盟国家紧密联系桥梁的广西,自由贸易区的建设对其对外贸易发展有着重要影响。广西应该在充分利用自由贸易区建立所带来的积极影响的基础上．及时优化、调整广西的产业结构,并确立以东盟为主要贸易对象的外贸策略,以更好地促进广西经济快速和全面地发展。     

Breakthroughs in supplier partnerships: profiting from win-win relationships.

The changes occurring in manufacturing companies today are more significant than any that have occurred in the past decade. Customers want products and services with less lead time, higher quality, and lower cost than ever before. These requirements have caused manufacturers to rethink how they view their supply chains. This article highlights the importance of improving supplier partnerships.     

Corporate Strategy and NAFTA When Environmental Regulations Are Barriers to Trade

SUMMARY

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), domestic environmental regulations can have the ultimate impact of erecting entry barriers against foreign companies. These actions by domestic firms are part of a corporate “shelter”-seeking strategy. Five recent cases are analyzed out of twenty-four environmental disputes relevant to NAFTA.     

谈高速公路建设中的监理工作

随着中国-东盟自由贸易区的建成,广西作为该区域经济的战略枢纽和交通要道的位置自然显现。为此,有关部门加大交通基础设施建设力度,规划至2030年,广西高速公路里程将突破7 500km,高速公路网密度将达318 km/100 km~2,超过多数发达国家目前水平。文章认为,公路建设速度加快,监理工作更要加强,这样才可以保证质量第一,顺利实现预期目标。     

Regional integration and dynamic adjustments: Evidence from gross national product functions for Canada and the United States

We estimate a translog Gross National Product function and test for endogenously determined structural change allowing for anticipated and lagged responses to regional trade agreements. We found that Canada embarked on a long transition path prior to the implementation of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement, a result reminiscent of Magee's (2008) results concerning RTAs’ trade creation effects. In contrast, the United States experienced an abrupt structural change a year after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. This reflects that smaller economies benefitting from larger changes in terms of trade are confronted to more complex adjustment processes than larger economies.     

Canada-United State Free Trade

A bstract The Canada US Free Trade AGreement (FTA) which came into force January 1. 1989 caused heated debate within Canada about the impact it would have on social programs , other directly or indirectly It was argued that Canada would have to give up some social programs because they would be deemed to be substdues to the production of goods or services Alternatively, it was feared that firms would argue that the programs would need to be cut in order to ensure that they could compete with US firms in firms in terms of taxes It is shown that public unease about the fate of social programs was based both on a misunderstanding of FTA provisions, and on 'misperception'of the mag nitude of social program expenditures Social Programs Such as unemployment insurance , even when they subsidize particular groups of people (eg fisher men) are not normally deemed to be unfair competition which would be countervailable In addition, firsm do not expertence any greter benefit costs in Canada than in the US, albeit there is a different public/private split and thus there is no justification for firms to argue for cutting programs in order tobe competitive, other things being equal     

中国一东盟自由贸易区的建立对中国经济带来的机遇与挑战

世界上人口最多的自由贸易区-中国与东盟自由贸易区将于2010年建成.在这个拥有17亿人口、2万亿美元生产总值、1.7万亿美元贸易总量的自由贸易区内,明确中国与东盟在货物、服务贸易和投资领域的比较优势,对于协调各方的利益得失,最大地发挥自由贸易区的作用,有着积极而重要的意义.该自由贸易区的建立将对中国经济发展产生深远影响.     

"区港联动"政府监管机制初探

在实施区港联动战略中政府如何扮演好自己的角色,为区港联动提供支持的同时对其进行有效监管,是区港联动实施过程中值得探讨的一个重要问题。文中在简要介绍区港联动的基础上,分析了区港联动战略下的政府监管机制,主要从宏观调控、法制保障和海关监管三方面进行了分析,提出了国内实施区港联动的监管机制的比较分析思路,为我国区港联动的实施提供了一定建议。     

Planning processes for advanced manufacturing technology by large American manufacturers

In response to an increasingly competitive environment, many manufacturers have invested in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). While many studies regarding the use of AMT have been performed, little is known about how firms plan and manage their AMT investments. This is surprising given the evidence about the impact such investments can have on an organization. To address this, a survey of large American manufacturing firms was conducted. Respondents were asked, among other questions, why their firms made such investments and the fit with their business strategy; which functional areas were involved in idea generation, the planning process, and proposal assessment; and what the anticipated risks, difficulties and benefits were from making such investments. The results from this survey are provided along with an analysis of the responses.     

Health care reform and the hospital supply chain

With health care reform, hospitals will be differentiated in the marketplace by how well they manage the costs of services. Because products will be market priced, hospital materiel managers will have to minimize all other related acquisition costs. The key opportunities will be in changing processes to eliminate non-value added administrative, supply chain, and process activities and their attendant costs.