Production in the Innovation Economy
Richard M. Locke and Rachel L. Wellhausen
Abstract
Given links between innovation and production, how does an innovation economy maintain manufacturing? The authors in this volume use hundreds of interviews with firms in the US and abroad, a nationally representative survey of manufacturers, and analyses of start-up firms, business practices, and new manufacturing technologies to answer this question. Because today’s firms have turned away from vertical integration, many manufacturing capabilities rest in external “ecosystems” of suppliers, competitors, and labor market intermediaries. This volume argues that the development of institutions ad ... More
Given links between innovation and production, how does an innovation economy maintain manufacturing? The authors in this volume use hundreds of interviews with firms in the US and abroad, a nationally representative survey of manufacturers, and analyses of start-up firms, business practices, and new manufacturing technologies to answer this question. Because today’s firms have turned away from vertical integration, many manufacturing capabilities rest in external “ecosystems” of suppliers, competitors, and labor market intermediaries. This volume argues that the development of institutions addressing gaps in production ecosystems can bolster manufacturing and, ultimately, innovative capacity. Chapters include analyses of new and mature firms’ experiences in the US and China, employer hiring practices, and production and the energy industry, as well as a conceptualization of product variety as a form of innovation and a forecast of new manufacturing technologies on the horizon.
Keywords:
Innovation,
Manufacturing,
United States,
China,
Production,
Employment,
Energy,
Offshoring
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780262019927 |
| Published to MIT Press Scholarship Online: May 2014 |
DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262019927.001.0001 |
