ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the main trends in both process- and product-related technical change present in the United States and Western Europe. One major dimension of the restructuring response by United States and Western European auto assemblers has been to establish some form of relationship with their erstwhile Japanese competitors. Western European and United States motor vehicle producers are in the midst of one of the largest capital investment programs ever undertaken at any time in any industry. During the 1970s, the major impetus for product innovation in the motor vehicle industry arose from the external operating environment. The chapter focuses on empirical research to present case studies of the technological strategy being pursued by three final vehicle assemblers - the Rover Group, Fiat and General Motors. Belatedly the recognition dawned that embodied technological innovation alone was an inadequate response; a change in labour process, in philosophy and organization was also required.
