This book contains a selection of articles on the subject of 'Culture
and Production'. They are results of international conferences held in
Tokyo, Washington and Bremen between 1991 and 1994. The International
Research Network on Culture and Production (CAPIRN) carried out a 5-year
joint research project examining the impact of different industrial
cultures on the development and implementation, and above all on the
international transfer of technology. The machine tools sector was
selected for this international comparative study, because over the last
15 years this global market has undergone dramatic changes that cannot
be adequately explained by traditional economic theories of
international competition. The 'industrial culture' research concept
permits an analysis and understanding of hitherto unrecognised
interrelationships between the dimensions of different industrial
cultures and the process of technological innovation in international
competition. The special challenge faced by CAPIRN was to develop the
theoretical concept of industrial culture further and to apply it within
a large-scale international study. A considerable amount of work in this
field has been published by CAPIRN members since 1990. This book is the
first compilation of research findings in the field of industrial
culture. We wish to express our thanks to the national research councils
in the participant countries, the FORCE and FAST programmes of the
European Union, the Japanese Ministry for Industry, MITI, and the Hans
Bockler Foundation, to mention only some of the many bodies that have
provided support.
