David P. Angel

High-technology agglomeration and the labor market: the case of Silicon Valley

In this paper the pattern of labor-market activity associated with major high-technology agglomerations within the USA are examined, drawing upon the results of a mailed questionnaire survey of firms in the semiconductor industry. The analysis is focused upon the cluster of specialized semiconductor firms in Silicon Valley, to determine the contribution of local labor-market processes to the growth and development of this high-technology production complex. Fluid employment relations and efficiencies in search and mobility within the local labor market provide Silicon Valley firms remarkable flexibility in meeting their labor demands and help to ensure a rapid circulation of knowledge and information within the production complex. The accelerated transfer of technological knowledge allows Silicon Valley firms to build cumulatively upon a common stock of technological successes and failures, contributing significantly to the innovative dynamism of the region.

The Labor Market for Engineers in the U.S. Semiconductor Industry

This paper examines the organization and geography of the labor market for engineers in the U.S. semiconductor industry. The analysis is based upon work history data collected through a questionnaire survey of semiconductor production engineers. Locational agglomeration of semiconductor production in Silicon Valley is accompanied by an intensive localized dynamic of labor mobility in which engineers move between firms in a series of short term employment contracts. Fluid employment relations and high levels of inter-firm worker mobility are shown to be an important dimension of the flexible manufacturing forms emerging in Silicon Valley.

The US Semiconductor Industry: A Locational Analysis

This paper is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the locational dynamics of the US semiconductor industry. The analysis proceeds in six major stages. First, we review some recent developments in industrial location theory. Second, we describe the main technological and organizational features of the semiconductor industry. Third, we provide an empirical overview of the growth and development of the industry in the USA. Fourth, we examine the internal geography of the Silicon-Valley production complex. Fifth, we carry out a linear discriminant analysis of the geography of the industry in an attempt to distinguish Silicon-Valley establishments from non-Silicon-Valley establishments. Sixth, we look at the organizational/locational relationships between wafer fabrication and device assembly.

Restructuring for Innovation: The Remaking of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry

A bisphenol polyester with an inherent viscosity of at least about 0.5 is produced by the steps of (1) preparing a bisphenol polyester with an inherent viscosity of at least about 0.1, (2) comminuting the prepared polyester (3) contacting the comminuted polyester with a crystallizing agent, and (4) heating the crystallized polyester in the presence of an inert gas to increase the inherent viscosity to at least 0.5. Preferably a copolyester of bisphenol A, terephthalic and isophthalic acid is used and the heating step is accomplished by fluidizing the crystallized polymer in the same vessel as used for crystallization.

Manufacturing Systems and Technological Change: The U.S. Personal Computer Industry

AbstractThe 1980s have been a period of profound change in the terms of competition and the structure of manufacturing systems in the personal computer industry. As the ability to manufacture computers has diffused widely through the global economy, price competition has intensified and profit margins have narrowed on most mature computer technologies. U.S. personal computer firms are now seeking to establish new sources of durable competitive advantage. The most visible aspect of change has been the proliferation of low-cost clone computers and associated attempts to reduce costs in manufacturing. In addition, however, personal computer firms are attempting to accelerate product innovation and to enhance the return on investments in new technology. Final assembly of personal computers takes place in each of the major market areas of North America, Asia, and Europe. Component technology is sourced from a global network of suppliers, and there is little evidence of intensified locational clustering of asse...

Global standards and the environmental performance of industry

In this paper we examine the emergence of firm-based global environmental standards as an approach to managing the environmental performance of complex global production networks. Firm-based global environmental standards exist when a firm defines a uniform set of process and product environmental performance requirements that must be adhered to by all of a firms facilities around the world, even if these firm-based standards exceed the requirements of local and national environmental regulations. We identify increasingly stringent end-market environmental regulation, as well as growing concern over the need to protect a firms reputational capital and operating legitimacy, as two key drivers of the adoption of firm-based environmental standards. Our analysis suggests, however, that firms are responding to these external drivers in part because of the characteristics of global production networks—a production form that depends on the ability to produce from any manufacturing plant to any end market. The paper examines the impact of firm-based environmental standards through case studies of a cement plant in Thailand and an electronics manufacturing plant in Penang, Malaysia. In line with the literature on new institution economics, the case studies demonstrate that firm-based standards are providing a platform for learning and innovation within the firm.

The drivers of greenhouse gas emissions: What do we learn from local case studies?

Abstract What can local case studies contribute to our understanding of the processes underlying the growth in greenhouse gas emissions? Since much abatement and mitigation are local in character, it is important that policy makers identify the mix of local, national and international processes that contribute to changes in greenhouse gas emissions. Drawing upon the results of case studies in Kansas, North Carolina and Ohio, how patterns of emissions in local areas can be connected analytically to the driving forces of environmental change is demonstrated. Emissions at the local level are empirically associated with the same set of trends found at national and international scale, namely, changes in population, affluence‐consumption and technology.

The Global Assembly-Operations of US Semiconductor Firms: A Geographical Analysis

The paper begins with a brief description of assembly processes in the semiconductor industry. The organizational structure and geography of the assembly operations of US semiconductor firms are then considered. Two issues in particular are examined, namely (a) the conditions under which vertical integration and disintegration of assembly tend to occur, and (b) the reasons why most semiconductor assembly is performed offshore. Lengthy empirical descriptions are offered of the assembly activities of US semiconductor firms in (a) the United States, (b) Western Europe, and (c) the world periphery and semiperiphery (above all, East and Southeast Asia). The paper concludes with a short critical comment on the theory of the new international division of labor.

Global Localization? Japanese Research and Development Laboratories in the USA

In this paper the manufacturing strategies underlying the growing number of Japanese research and development (R&D) laboratories in the United States are examined. In particular, we assess the extent to which Japanese R&D in the United States is consistent with a model of global localization. The analysis is based upon data collected by a mailed questionnaire survey and through interviews with the directors of Japanese R&D laboratories. In its basic form, global localization is a manufacturing strategy that seeks to promote the emergence of an integrated manufacturing complex and attendant technology-development capability within North America and other major markets. In the case of Japanese automobile firms, close ties are observed between R&D and production facilities in the United States. In computers, electronics, and other industries, however, the principal linkage of R&D laboratories in the United States is to R&D laboratories in Japan. Divisional R&D laboratories in Japan remain the anchor for emerging international technology-development networks.

The environmental regulation of privatized industry in Poland

The authors examine the operation of the environmental protection system in Poland. Drawing upon the results of a mailed questionnaire survey of privatized manufacturing firms, they investigate the degree to which Poland has been successful in strengthening its environmental regulatory system. In general, the survey data reveal an operational system of environmental protection that is an amalgam of traditional command-and-control regulation and flexible enforcement that is well suited to the current political and economic conditions of Poland. Among the features of this regulatory system, which supports improved environmental performance for privatized firms, are a tough system of facility licensing, a flexible approach to compliance, good information availability at the local level, and broad agreement as to the legitimacy of environmental protection among firms in Poland. The authors stress the importance of matching regulatory strategy to societal context.