Why the Foxconn Model Does Not Die: Production Networks and Labour Relations in the IT Industry in South China

Lüthje, Boy; Butollo, Florian

doi:10.1080/14747731.2016.1203132

Cited by 31 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Nor do higher salaries necessarily imply that capital would simply leave. As Butollo and Lüthje (2016), despite the tendency of capitalists to relocate production sites globally in the search for cheaper labour, the PRD has continued to be a large, increasingly diverse and more mature production site in electronic appliances production. Nevertheless, the state and employers have not only given in to workers' increasing unrest.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of these different locations within the global political economy and diverging social relations of production, the social class forces of labour are rather different in both industrial sectors. In the electronics sector in the PRD, workers are generally less skilled and the turnover of the workforce is high with cheap labour being easily replaced (see also the contribution by Butollo & Lüthje, 2016). By contrast, employment relations in the IT sector in the YRD are more stable and the workforce more highly skilled.…”

Section: Chinese Production In the Global Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploitation and Resistance: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese Cheap Labour Electronics and High-Value Added IT Sectors

Bieler

Lee

2016

Globalizations

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This article compares the electronics sector in the area of Shenzhen, based on cheap labour assembling goods for export, with the IT sector in the area of Shanghai, relying on a more skilled workforce manufacturing high value-added goods. It is asked in what way these rather different locations within the global political economy condition the form and contents of resistance in these two sectors. The article concludes that industrial relations are more confrontational in the electronics sector with informal labour NGOs supporting workers in getting their individual and collective rights. The IT sector, in contrast, is characterised by consensual relationships. Informal labour NGOs concentrate on organising cultural activities for workers' free time, performing a mediating role between employers and employees, supported by the government.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chinese Production In the Global Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploitation and Resistance: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese Cheap Labour Electronics and High-Value Added IT Sectors

Bieler

Lee

2016

Globalizations

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“…On the contrary, in China, Foxconn hires rural migrant workers with fixed short-term contracts (one-and threeyear) and employee-students from vocational schools, who make up 15% of the total workforce during peak production (Smith and Chan, 2015). In China, workers depend on extensive overtime and personal performance bonuses to attain a large proportion of their wage because the base wage provides only 50% of their regular income (Lüthje and Butollo, 2016). In Czechia, the flexibility of the workforce is both internal and external.…”

Section: Legacy and Innovation In Employment Arrangementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

One firm, two countries, one workplace model? The case of Foxconn’s internationalisation

Andrijasevic

Sacchetto

Pun

2020

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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This article aims to provide insight into the employment relations in China-based multinational companies internationalising to Europe, a still relatively unexplored topic. We investigate the transfer of work and employment practices from Foxconn’s manufacturing headquarters in mainland China to its subsidiaries in Czechia and the factors that influence the firm’s internationalisation of production. By drawing upon original ethnographic fieldwork, the study makes a two-fold contribution. First, it shows the analytical inadequacy of the ‘latecomer’ model which assumes that the Chinese firm is an asset seeker. Second, it illustrates the relevance of diversity of labour and non-institutionalised forms of workers’ agency for theorisation of internationalisation. These topics are still insufficiently addressed by the literature that favours managerial agency and the model of distinctive and stable national labour forces. The study contributes to the theoretical debates on internationalisation by illustrating the limits of the national institutionalist perspective, the importance of considering a multi-scalar analytical framework and the relevance of labour composition in shaping multinational employment relations. JEL Codes: J61, J42, L23

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“…For example, in the garment industry, the current focus is seemingly to ensure worker safety, whereas product safety is a stronger concern in the automobile industry, likely with different implications for the management of employment relations in GVN. Also, local industrial relations regulations such as the chances for democratic workplace representation, the opportunities for collective bargaining, the scope of legal entitlements for migrant workforces and proper labour inspections (Lüthje and Butollo, 2017), but also living wages (Miller and Hohenegger, 2017) shape multi-employer relations. These regulations can be influenced at least to some extent by lead firm practices and improved by means of local participation in network governance (Lund-Thomsen and Lindgreen, 2014).…”

Section: A Framework For Managing Employment Relations In Gvn For Netmentioning

confidence: 99%

How can employment relations in global value networks be managed towards social responsibility?

2018

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Ensuring social responsibility is a continued challenge in value creation processes that are globally dispersed among multiple organizations. We use the literature on interorganizational network management to shed new light on the question of how employment relations can be managed more responsibly in global value networks (GVN). In contrast to the structureoriented global value chain perspective, a network management perspective highlights the practices by which employment relations can be addressed in the context of plural forms of network governance. Using examples of GVN in the automotive and garment industries we illustrate how the network management practices of selecting, allocating, regulating and evaluating can enable lead firms and suppliers to effectively deal with social responsibility challenges on the level of whole networks. We also discuss how network management practices can address field-level and firm-level constraints for the management of multiemployer relations in GVN.

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Why the Foxconn Model Does Not Die: Production Networks and Labour Relations in the IT Industry in South China

Cited by 31 publications

References 8 publications

Exploitation and Resistance: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese Cheap Labour Electronics and High-Value Added IT Sectors

Exploitation and Resistance: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese Cheap Labour Electronics and High-Value Added IT Sectors

One firm, two countries, one workplace model? The case of Foxconn’s internationalisation

How can employment relations in global value networks be managed towards social responsibility?

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