New Technology, Employment and Small Engineering Firms

Abstract
Mark Dodgson works at the Technical Change Centre, London, England. The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of a postgraduate research studentship at Imperial College, London, England. The paper outlines the effects of a new technology on a range of employment issues in a sample of forty small engineering companies. It argues efficient and profitable use of a technology is dependent on matching its opportunities for improving productivity with flexible work organisation and skilled operation. Noting the technical constraints on the way a technology is used, the paper develops a typology of small engineering companies linked to its form of work organisation, and finds differences in company size, markets and ownership.

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