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Corporate Bureaucracies and United States Competitiveness

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  • Hans-Jurgen Engelbrecht

Abstract

Two features of the US manufacturing sector during the 1980s are its increased openness to international trade and the rise in nonproduction employment relative to production employment. The latter seems to be due to technological change and/or organisational 'fat'. In this study, the hypothesis that the 'organisational factor' is an important determinant of US export competitiveness and trade in manufactures is tested using industry panel data for 1985-89. The empirical results indicate that, while conventional trade determinants like human and physical capital intensity are still important, technology in both the narrow and wider sense, i.e. R&D intensity and organisational technology, seems to be the major determinant. It is found that large nonproduction employment had a detrimental effect on US export competitiveness. This seems to provide an explanation for the large white-collar layoffs observed since the late 1980s.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans-Jurgen Engelbrecht, 1997. "Corporate Bureaucracies and United States Competitiveness," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 129-154.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:4:y:1997:i:2:p:129-154
    DOI: 10.1080/758516224
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giovanni Dosi & Keith Pavitt & Luc Soete, 1990. "The Economics of Technical Change and International Trade," LEM Book Series, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy, number dosietal-1990, November.
    2. Alexis Jacquemin, 1987. "The New Industrial Organization: Market Forces and Strategic Behavior," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262600145, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen, 1998. "A communication perspective on the international information and knowledge system," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 359-367, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate bureaucracies; Organisational efficiency; Export competitiveness; United States; JEL classification numbers: F14; L60;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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