Labour and Segmentation in Value Chains

Hammer, Nikolaus; Riisgaard, Lone

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-41036-8_5

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Braverman's conceptualization of control over the labour process as 'the dictation of each step of the process, including its mode of performance' (Braverman, 1998: 69) is neglected also in Hammer and Riisgard (2015), who see the division of labour on the level of labour market division (into its formal and informal part) and put the emphasis on the control over bodies, eventually, control of performance. McGrath-Champ et al (2015) link labour process analysis with the global value chain perspective (how labour-intensive versus more automatated manner of e-waste disassembly determines value chain form), but they are not interested in dynamics of this configuration.…”

Section: Views On the Evolution Of Mncsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition for control over the labour process as a driver of relocation of activities to a shared services centre

Mezihorák

2017

Human Relations

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New approaches to the study of multinational companies (MNCs) that are sensitive to the issues of power and politics have made considerable progress towards developing a more realistic understanding of MNCs' behaviour. To achieve a full understanding of this issue, however, it is necessary to incorporate the issue of labour. This paper offers a framework for conceptualizing the nexus of power, politics, and labour in MNCs. It suggests that the units in MNC as a result of fragmentation of production compete for control over the labour processes. This leads to the introduction of controlling mechanisms, norms, and standards across the MNC that add to the fragmentation of labour processes and renders them more codifiable and less complex, and thus makes it easier to externalize them. The proposition is supported by a case study of a firm's relocation of services to a shared services centre and its impacts on labour processes on both the sending and the receiving units in the MNC. It is necessary to understand the presence of power relations, politics, and competition in MNCs not only as a consequence but also as a factor of organizational restructuring connected with the fragmentation of production.

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Section: Views On the Evolution Of Mncsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition for control over the labour process as a driver of relocation of activities to a shared services centre

Mezihorák

2017

Human Relations

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“…This we do in recognition of Cunnison’s (1966: 272) guiding principle that ‘to understand the social processes of a unique work situation, the sociologist must be aware of the general structure and processes of change in the society that he [sic] is studying’. As Bair and Werner (2015: 131) affirm, it remains of key importance that we understand labour ‘beyond the [global production] network’ if we are to fully appreciate the way that labour processes are shaped at local level (see also, Cumbers et al, 2008: 370; Hammer and Riisgaard, 2015).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, the article contributes empirically to our understanding of the ways that ‘living embodied labour become[s] value for capital’ at workplace level (Bair and Werner, 2015: 131; Cumbers et al, 2008). Theoretically, the article illuminates the interaction of local social relations and global supply chain pressures as part of the ‘uneven development’ of contemporary capitalism (Bair and Werner, 2015: 127; see also Cumbers et al, 2008; Hammer and Riisgaard, 2015: 83–5). In this respect, the article also traces the connection between the market imperatives of lead firms and the lived-experiences of workers at the bottom of the chain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In debt to the time-bank: the manipulation of working time in Indian garment factories and ‘working dead horse’

Jenkins

Blyton

2016

Work, Employment and Society

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In this article we focus on the creation of debt relations between workers and their workplace as a tool of managerial control in the garment factories of Bangalore, India. The currency of indebtedness in this case is working time and our focus is the manipulation of hours of work at the base of the international, buyer-driven, garment supply chain. In illuminating debt relations and worker dependency as an element of managers’ repertoire of control, we compare a system known as ‘comp-off’ in contemporary Indian factories with the historical precedent of a system known as ‘working dead horse’ in Britain. Our comparison illuminates how value is extracted from workers and how old control systems are updated within the labour process, in a feminized sector where workers’ associational power is weak and social downgrading is one means by which employers can offload risk, maximize flexibility and secure their position at the local level.

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“…Fine, 1998;Peck, 1996;Rubery, 2007; also, for feminist approaches to global commodity chains, Dunaway, 2014). Segmentation dynamics shape how particular firms and workplaces can compete for positions in the division of labour (Hammer and Riisgaard, 2015). Yet, insofar as they are key in translating GVCs' quality and performance requirements, they also underpin any disconnections in the functional division of labour.…”

Section: Linking the Labour Process And Value Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disconnecting Labour? The Labour Process in the UK Fast Fashion Value Chain

Hammer

Plugor

2019

Work, Employment and Society

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This article focuses on the interlinkages between the labour process and global value chains. It draws on the renewed growth in UK apparel manufacturing, specifically within the fast fashion value chain, and asks how value chain requirements are translated into the labour process as well as how the latter enables quick response manufacturing. The case study shows how buyer-lead firms engender accelerated capital circuits of fast fashion which rely on an increased segmentation of manufacturers and workers, the elimination of unproductive spaces in the labour process, and a further rise in the informalisation and precarity of labour. The article demonstrates a strategic disconnection within the fast fashion value chain: upstream manufacturers are only able to satisfy lead firms’ economic and operational standards if they disconnect – informalise – labour from the latter’s ‘ethical’ standards.

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Labour and Segmentation in Value Chains

Cited by 21 publications

References 29 publications

Competition for control over the labour process as a driver of relocation of activities to a shared services centre

Competition for control over the labour process as a driver of relocation of activities to a shared services centre

In debt to the time-bank: the manipulation of working time in Indian garment factories and ‘working dead horse’

Disconnecting Labour? The Labour Process in the UK Fast Fashion Value Chain

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