This interdisciplinary volume provides a critical and multi-disciplinary review of current manufacturing processes, practices, and policies, and broadens our understanding of production and innovation in the world economy. Chapters highlight how firms

This interdisciplinary volume provides a critical and multi-disciplinary review of current manufacturing processes, practices, and policies, and broadens our understanding of production and innovation in the world economy. Chapters highlight how firms and industries modify existing processes to produce for established and emerging markets through dynamic and design-driven strategies. This approach allows readers to view transformations in production systems and processes across sectors, technologies and industries. Contributors include scholars ranging from engineering to policy to economic geography. The evidence demonstrates that manufacturing continues to matter in the world economy.

This interdisciplinary volume provides a critical and multi-disciplinary review of current manufacturing processes, practices, and policies, and broadens our understanding of production and innovation in the world economy. Chapters highlight how firms and industries modify existing processes to produce for established and emerging markets through dynamic and design-driven strategies. This approach allows readers to view transformations in production systems and processes across sectors, technologies and industries. Contributors include scholars ranging from engineering to policy to economic geography. The evidence demonstrates that manufacturing continues to matter in the world economy.

"In Praise of Hard Industries offers an authoritative and deeply disturbing counterargument to the many unexamined assumptions and glibly misstated facts that are driving our embrace of postindustrialism."--BOOK JACKET.

Biology and the Manufacturing Industries focuses on the appreciation of the role of biology in the operations of manufacturing industries. Divided into four parts with 18 chapters, the book contains the literature of various authors who have diligently conducted studies on the relationship of biology and the manufacturing industries. The discussions start with the industrial aspects of microbial food production, particularly focusing on the symba-yeast process, pest control, and the factors affecting continuous fermentation. The book also notes the impact of manufacturing industries on agriculture. The book considers the importance of biological factors to the design and operation of power stations, as well as the biological processes in the treatment and disposal of waste waters. This topic includes actions to be taken regarding microbiological problems as well as the conduct of research sponsored by the manufacturing industries. The discussions progresses to how sensory methods can solve flavor problems in the food industry. The toxicity of potential drugs is also given importance. Lastly, the role of biologists in the industries, as well as their role as industrial engineers, is emphasized. The book is a must for readers who are interested in exploring the role of biology in the manufacturing industries and other fields.

Fernandes explores Colombian trade policy from 1977-91, a period of substantial variation in protection across industries, to examine whether increased exposure to foreign competition generates plant-level productivity gains. Using a large panel of manufacturing plants, she finds a strong positive impact of tariff liberalization on consistent productivity estimates, controlling for plant and industry heterogeneity. This result is not driven by the endogeneity of protection nor by plant exit. The impact of tariff liberalization on productivity is stronger for large plants and for plants in less competitive industries. Qualitatively similar results are obtained when using effective rates of protection and import penetration ratios as measures of protection. This paper--a product of Investment Climate, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the links between trade and productivity.