This paper explores comparative cost structures when large firms split operations between separate production facilities in a way that puts pressure on wage rates and worker effort levels: one example of a divide and rule strategy. It differentiates horizontal structures of this kind based on...

Introducing the myth of Japanese efficiency -- Wide selection : a myth encountered -- Production malapropisms : the BMW-Rover group controversy -- Lean production : the dog that did not bark -- Back to the future : the reorganization of work at Toyota -- Rivalrous asymmetries and the Japanese...