ABSTRACT
As markets matured and growth consequently stabilised, organisations, faced with increasing costs of production – particularly the cost of labour and in the 1970s the cost of power – began to challenge their established ways of working. Some organisations further increased the pressure on workers for more productivity gains while pursuing cost reductions in raw materials and through research and development, others relied on the emerging technologies of automation, robotics and electronic data processing; most adopted a mix of these approaches. Where technologically and financially feasible other organisations followed the more conventional approach of exporting jobs to lower cost manufacturing centres especially in South East Asia. Rather than reducing costs through improving their processes, they relocated manufacturing plants to take advantage of lower cost labour.
