Societal effectWe see many of these same factors in social science research as well. In the
first place, a number of them, such as attitudes towards authority, are con-
sidered part of a country’s national culture. We will return to this topic in
Chapter 6. In addition, authors such as Streeck, Maurice, Sorge, Warner and
Lane have pointed out national differences in the area of organizational
structuring, differentiation and integration mechanisms, qualifications and
industrial relations. Such factors influence one another, and although this
reciprocal effect can be found in every society, it is highly specific to the
society in which it is taking place. This approach, which is known as the
societal effect theory, will be discussed in Chapter 5 of this book. For now,
however, bear in mind that the authors mentioned above suggest that
through a particular constellation of factors, certain countries will be suc-
cessful in certain industrial sectors. We will borrow an example from Lane by
way of illustration:The strengths of German manufacturing enterprises are widely seen to
emanate from two core institutional complexes – the system of vocational
education and training and the system of industrial relations. The first not
only creates high levels of technical skill throughout the industrial enterprise
but also engenders a homogeneity of skills at all levels of the hierarchy, as
well as fostering certain orientations to the work task and the work commu-
nity. These characteristics, in turn, structure organizational relations, influ-
ence communication and cooperation along both horizontal and vertical lines
and encourage labour deployment in accordance with the principle of
responsible autonomy. The craft ethos permeates the whole of the organi-
zation and creates a common focus and identity for management and
production workers, although not necessarily a community of interest. The
cooperative works culture, fostered by the training system, is further rein-
forced by the system of industrial relations, particularly by the work council.
The autonomy and responsibility encouraged by the organization of work is
paralleled and enhanced by the participative industrial relations style, flowing
from the system of co-determination. (Lane, 1989: 398)Japan as an example of Porter’s analysisPorter uses his analysis to explain why certain countries are successful in cer-
tain industries. For example, Japan’s prominent position in consumer elec-
tronics, electronic components and computing equipment, office machines,
motorcycles, ships and sewing machines can be attributed in the first place to
the country’s rapid and continual upgrading of human resources, in which in-
company training predominates. Research focuses on applications and process
optimization rather than basic technological innovation, resulting in high-quality
products which are nevertheless competitively priced. Demand conditions
The International Division of Labour 23