New Technology,Employment and Small Engineering Firms

Abstract

Mark Dodgson works at the Technical Change Centre, London, England. The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of a postgraduate research studentship at Imperial College, London, England. The paper outlines the effects of a new technology on a range of employment issues in a sample of forty small engineering companies. It argues efficient and profitable use of a technology is dependent on matching its opportunities for improving productivity with flexible work organisation and skilled operation. Noting the technical constraints on the way a technology is used, the paper develops a typology of small engineering companies linked to its form of work organisation, and finds differences in company size, markets and ownership.

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