The Manufacturing Modernization Process: Mediating Institutions and the Facilitation of Firm-Level Change

Abstract

Case studies of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center in Philadelphia and the Labor Management Council for Economic Renewal in Michigan are presented to demonstrate how manufacturing modernization organizations (MMOs) facilitate organizational change in small and medium-size firms. Despite differences in structure, size, and funding, these two MMOs shared important characteristics that enabled them to work effectively with firms. First, each organization had credibility in the employer community. Second, each organization was connected to existing state and local industrial resources to network services to firms. Third, staff of each organization had sufficient shop floor knowledge to catalyze change through on-site problem solving. Fourth, each organization developed collective activities such as group trainings and seminars to help firms learn from one another about organizational innovations. Finally, each organization pursued continuous contact with the firms they serve to maintain their confidence. These five characteristics have important implications for the funding and design of MMOs.

The Affordable Resources strategy and the Milieux Embeddedness strategy as alternative approaches to facilitating innovation in a knowledge-intensive industry

“…A second group of scholars, often working out of departments of regional planning or geography (e.g., Blakely, 1994;Brotchie et al, 1995;Flynn & Forrant, 1997;Garnsey & Cannon-Brookes, 1993;Kenney & Florida, 1994;Lomi & Larsen, 1996;Markusen, 1994;Noponen, Graham, & Markusen, 1993;Quinn & Dickson, 1995;Rondinelli & Vastag, 1997;Sassen, 1991;Saxenian, 1990Saxenian, , 1994Scott & Paul, 1990;Segers, 1992;Willoughby, 1998b) have made a significant contribution to the literature through their inquiries into the impact of technological entrepreneurship on the economic and industrial structure of regions.…”