ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the relationship between productivity, product quality and competitiveness in order to assess the extent to which international competitiveness depends on the immediate adoption of the latest automation technology. Two car factories have been compared, a Brazilian one (São Bernardo) and a British one (Dagenham). Both are owned by the Ford Motor Company (FMC).2 Both plants compete in the international market but have not been automated to the same degree. The comparison sheds light on the relative importance of automation and work organisation in competitive strategies. Therefore this analysis contributes to the debate on how firms in Brazil have been affected by the policy of protecting national producers of electronics-based automation technology.
