ABSTRACT

Regional development affects the livelihood and welfare of the population in different ways. Atenquique is a major paper- and lumber-producing corporate town, and it was founded as one of the first industries of enclave in the southern region of Jalisco, expecting positive effects in the regional economic development. Atenquique developed as a company town, giving a house to each worker, employee or manager, where their families lived and left every weekend to visit their relatives in the nearby cities and towns (Gabayet 1988). During the 1990s a period of restructuring of the paper mill industry began in Mexico, a process that has been characterized by large corporate-owned companies consolidating to become larger, more vertically integrated, transnational, less diversified and leaner. These changes and developments were initiated because of the long-term trends toward economic process of globalization. As the economic processes of globalization continue, its effects on local communities are uncertain to their residents (Brady and Wallace 2000). Global competition and capital mobility have changed the perception of new corporate owners for community concerns (Miller 2006).