Industrial Subcontracting in the UK and Japan (Avebury Business School Library) - Tapa dura

This book investigates the possibility that increased use of subcontracting could improve the international competitiveness of British industry, drawing lessons from Japan. Based on interviews in Britain and Japan over 40 companies, it concentrates on subcontracting in mechanical engineering, electronics and the motor industry. Pressures such as intensified international competitions, increased market volatility, and accelerated technical change have forced British firms into reorganization. The increased use of subcontracting involved in this has partly been the result of changes in the fundamental transactions-cost-economics determinants of subcontracting behaviour; but also, under-utilized and already-existing subcontracting opportunities have been taken up in order to reduce costs, and this has required a rethinking of companies' methods of supply chain management. Subcontracting in Japan has involved highly efficient supply chain management and appears to have stimulated cooperative innovation.