A New Era of Flexibility? Some Evidence and Problems from the Petrochemicals Industry
- 1 October 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
- Vol. 23 (10) , 1429-1446
- https://doi.org/10.1068/a231429
Abstract
The debate over the notion of ‘flexibility’ has centred around evidence from a small number of industrial sectors. In this paper, the petrochemicals industry is examined for evidence of a shift towards flexibility. It is concluded that there is evidence of both a move towards flexible production and organisation and a move towards the retention of commodity production. In so doing, three problems in the flexibility argument are dealt with; the breakup of mass markets, the potential for small firms, and the engineering-derived nature of the approach.Keywords
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