LEARNING FACTORIES OR REPRODUCTION FACTORIES - LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS IN THE JAPANESE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS MAQUILADORAS IN MEXICO

This article compares and contrasts the labor-management practices of Japanese consumer electronics maquiladoras in Mexico with those of con sumer electronics factories in Japan and assesses the extent to which the labor-management practices of Japanese factories have been transfe rred to maquiladoras in Mexico. An idealized model of the labor-manage ment system employed in Japanese factories in the consumer electronics sector is delineated from the available research literature. Data on labor-management practices of the Japanese consumer electronics maquil adoras are derived from personal interviews with 75 Mexican production workers. The findings suggest that the consumer electronics maquilado ras in Mexico are using a hybrid labor-management system that is simil ar to but differs in important ways from the system used in consumer e lectronics factories in Japan.