New technology and the workers' response

The rapid development and widespread use of new technologies, particularly those based on microelectronics, have brought about radical changes in people's lives the world over. They have also altered production conditions, organisational structures, firm behaviour and employment trends. While there are numerous studies of the impact these new technologies have had in developed nations, the problems that countries such as India and Brazil have faced in the same context have so far received scant attention.

This volume seeks to redress the balance. The contributors analyse the very real problems faced by both management and trade unions in tackling these new technologies and in harnessing them in the cause of promoting growth and social welfare. They also conceptualise issues of distribution and the shares of labour and capital in making the transition from old-fashioned to new technologies.

Among the important features of this volume are that it links management and trade unions within the same analytical framework; relates macroeconomic problems to the use of new technologies; analyses the strategic behaviour of different economic agents in the transition phase; and compares the experiences of East Asian economies (Korea and Taiwan) with those of developing countries such as Brazil and India and advanced economies such as Sweden.