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Skills, Shop-Floor Participation and the Transformation of Brimfield Precision: Lessons for the Revitalization of the Metal-Working Sector

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  • Forrant, Robert
  • Flynn, Erin

Abstract

There is a need for an accumulation of in-depth case studies on successful industrial restructuring in a variety of national and regional contexts and across several industries to extend our understanding of how enterprises successfully develop their dynamic capabilities. While there are studies and reports documenting the recent failures of the US machine tool and metal-working industry, there are few considerations of successful turn-arounds. This article is one such case study and it is part of an ongoing and highly detailed analysis of the extensive metal-working industry in western Massachusetts. Here we analyze the transformation of Brimfield Precision, Inc. from a typical machine shop dependent on a handful of customers and price-based contracts, to one that thrives on the design and manufacture of a range of surgical instruments. The reorganization is placed in the context of the more general decline of the US machine tool and metal-working industry after World War II to offer a working model for how the industry may 'remake itself'. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Forrant, Robert & Flynn, Erin, 1999. "Skills, Shop-Floor Participation and the Transformation of Brimfield Precision: Lessons for the Revitalization of the Metal-Working Sector," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 8(1), pages 167-188, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:8:y:1999:i:1:p:167-88
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    Cited by:

    1. Ojha, Divesh & Patel, Pankaj C. & Sridharan, Sri V., 2020. "Dynamic strategic planning and firm competitive performance: A conceptualization and an empirical test," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    2. Eriksson, Taina, 2014. "Processes, antecedents and outcomes of dynamic capabilities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 65-82.
    3. Claudimar Pereira da Veiga & Cassia Rita Pereira da Veiga & Mônica Maier Giacomini & Heitor Takashi Kato & Jansen Maia Del Corso, 2015. "Evolution of Capabilities in the Discovery Cycle of an Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Market," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 5(3), pages 141-153.

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