Development, Technology, and Flexibility: Brazil Faces the Industrial Divide

Industrializing countries face a variety of problems as they adopt new technologies. In order to compete successfully they need to make use of the most recent technological improvements and develop appropriate training patterns and management techniques alongside them. This process is often too expensive and developing countries need to assess which innovation offers the best investment. Development, Technology and Flexibility looks at ways of forecasting the use of innovation within industries in Brazil. It analyzes the growth of firms and the organizational techniques employed to aid flexibility in industrialization, showing how companies can increase their market power by the strategic application of innovation. Brazil provides the ideal focus for the study, poised as it is between the Third World and fully industrialized countries. The authors' extensive use of case studies encompasses a range of industries from machinery to footwear. They discuss the implications of new manufacturing systems for employment, training, quality, decision-making and the economy as a whole, showing how technology transfer can be made to work for successful development.