Professional Documents
Culture Documents
adjustment
processes,
that
is,
the
mode
of
PAG 4
will
impose
itself
as
the
alternative
to
Fordist
but different forms of organisation can in fact fulfil the same function
and
thus
guarantee
the
long-term
competitiveness
of
the
Pag 5
Inspired by the flexible production of high-quality products, each of
these systems has its strengths and weaknesses, which are activated
to varying degrees as a function of short-run economic conditions and
macroeconomic developments. Moreover the often static way in
which the newly emerging model of production is discussed can be
criticised: it often seems as though all companies, economies or
regions are supposed to converge on some optimal form of
organisation, in other words a stationary state. On the contrary, each
production model sets in motion numerous internal dynamics that in
the long term threaten its very viability. Further, to varying degrees
each model is sensitive to different external shocks. It is unlikely that
production systems will cease to evolve during the 1990s. We must
therefore explore the causes of a possible structural crisis in
Toyotaism, several signs of which are emerging during the 1990s.
Even in the most successful of models tensions are beginning to
appear, not least because the international context is evolving
considerably.