The Automotive and Electronics Industries andProcesses of Change; Evidence from the Welsh Cluster

The automotive and electronics industries within the UK have seen dramatic changes over thepast two decades, reflected by culture changes for the organisations within them. This paperexamines the issues surrounding two case study firms in the South Wales electronics andautomotive components cluster, who are attempting to change their companies’ cultures as a wayof maximising the benefits of new working practices. One of these companies adopts a slower,incremental approach to change, whilst the other favours a more radical, rapid change. The casestudies illustrate the different approaches to change which are possible, as well as problems andbenefits of such change. They also indicate the potential usefulness of clustering as a way ofpromoting effective change via firm-external sources of expertise and information, such asmanagement recruitment and benchmarking exercises. This is found to have important policyimplications for government agencies, such as the WDA.[...]