The Crisis of the Maquiladora Model in Mexico

• Published in: Work and occupations Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 399 - 429
• Main Author: de la Garza Toledo, Enrique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2007; Sage; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Business; Competition; Economic Crises; Economic crisis; Economic models; Economics; Exports; Factories; Flexibility; Industrial Enterprises; Industrial Production; International trade; Labor Productivity; Labour; Labour relations; Maquiladoras; Mexico; Modes of production; Occupation; Productivity; Professional relations. Trade unions; Sociology; Sociology of work; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Strategy; Structural change; Studies; Work organization; Mexico; maquila; production model; work conditions; productivity; Organization; Professional Relation; Flexibility
• ISSN: 0730-8884; 1552-8464
• DOI: 10.1177/0730888407307187

This article analyzes production models of the export-oriented maquila in Mexico, understood as the combinations between technological level and work organization system, labor relations flexibility, manpower characteristics, and business strategies, using for the first time the special module of the ENESTYC representative survey and information resulting from field work in 200 establishments. This work proposes that the maquila crisis in Mexico at the beginning of this century was not only because of the economic recession in the United States and Chinese competition but also because of the structural limitations of the sector's main production models, which have contributed to a crisis in labor productivity growth.