Jaesok Kim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784542
- eISBN:
- 9780804786126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784542.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
Discusses how the non-western origin of Nawon, a multinational garment corporation located in Qingdao, China, contributed to creating a specific form of locally embedded globalization. The Nawon ...
More
Discusses how the non-western origin of Nawon, a multinational garment corporation located in Qingdao, China, contributed to creating a specific form of locally embedded globalization. The Nawon management’s argument for the superiority of global or universal managerial principles and practices hid its local characteristics that originated from the historical memories, politics, and culture of South Korea and China. From the main thread, this chapter introduces concepts of culture, ethnicity, nationality, and post-socialism to discuss the construction of a managerial hierarchy and workforce divisions at the workplace. The incessant pressure from the global chain of garment production to reduce production costs shaped and changed the factory regime of the company, which was caught in a web of collusion between global capital and local government and struggled to maintain its business in China. This chapter also discusses the conditions of (im)possibility of workers’ resistance against the factory regime.Less
Discusses how the non-western origin of Nawon, a multinational garment corporation located in Qingdao, China, contributed to creating a specific form of locally embedded globalization. The Nawon management’s argument for the superiority of global or universal managerial principles and practices hid its local characteristics that originated from the historical memories, politics, and culture of South Korea and China. From the main thread, this chapter introduces concepts of culture, ethnicity, nationality, and post-socialism to discuss the construction of a managerial hierarchy and workforce divisions at the workplace. The incessant pressure from the global chain of garment production to reduce production costs shaped and changed the factory regime of the company, which was caught in a web of collusion between global capital and local government and struggled to maintain its business in China. This chapter also discusses the conditions of (im)possibility of workers’ resistance against the factory regime.
Jaesok Kim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784542
- eISBN:
- 9780804786126
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784542.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This book draws on research into a multinational corporation (MNC) in Qingdao, China, and delves deep into the power dynamics at play between Korean management, Chinese migrant workers, local-level ...
More
This book draws on research into a multinational corporation (MNC) in Qingdao, China, and delves deep into the power dynamics at play between Korean management, Chinese migrant workers, local-level Chinese government officials, and Chinese local gangs. Located within the chain of global garment production, the multinational corporation was under the incessant demand to cut production costs that continually destabilizes the factory regime of the corporation. The relentless demand of price cuts, the decreasing business profits, and the outmoded production facilities forced management to change the factory regime, which resluted in a relatively rapid transformation from despotic to paternalist regimes. The book demonstrates how a particular MNC struggled with the pressure to be increasingly profitable while negotiating a clash between Korean and Chinese cultures, traditions, and classes on the floor of a garment factory. Beyond a one-dimensional observation based on corporate greed or an exploitation model, it captures the daily struggles of management, mid-level personnel, and workers who struggle, each in their own way, to survive the pressures of laboring in a global market system. The book also pays particular attention to common features of post-socialist countries such as the greater importance of social connection and backroom influence in business. By analyzing the contentious collaboration between foreign management, factory workers, government officials, and gangs, it contributes not only to the research on the politics of resistance but also to our understanding of how global and local forces interact.Less
This book draws on research into a multinational corporation (MNC) in Qingdao, China, and delves deep into the power dynamics at play between Korean management, Chinese migrant workers, local-level Chinese government officials, and Chinese local gangs. Located within the chain of global garment production, the multinational corporation was under the incessant demand to cut production costs that continually destabilizes the factory regime of the corporation. The relentless demand of price cuts, the decreasing business profits, and the outmoded production facilities forced management to change the factory regime, which resluted in a relatively rapid transformation from despotic to paternalist regimes. The book demonstrates how a particular MNC struggled with the pressure to be increasingly profitable while negotiating a clash between Korean and Chinese cultures, traditions, and classes on the floor of a garment factory. Beyond a one-dimensional observation based on corporate greed or an exploitation model, it captures the daily struggles of management, mid-level personnel, and workers who struggle, each in their own way, to survive the pressures of laboring in a global market system. The book also pays particular attention to common features of post-socialist countries such as the greater importance of social connection and backroom influence in business. By analyzing the contentious collaboration between foreign management, factory workers, government officials, and gangs, it contributes not only to the research on the politics of resistance but also to our understanding of how global and local forces interact.
Jaesok Kim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784542
- eISBN:
- 9780804786126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784542.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
Chapter Eight concludes the book by speculating on the future of Nawon and the groups of people involved in its operations. Since 2005, the Chinese government has amended its regulations on minimum ...
More
Chapter Eight concludes the book by speculating on the future of Nawon and the groups of people involved in its operations. Since 2005, the Chinese government has amended its regulations on minimum wages to decrease the growing income gap between the rich and the poor. The government also tightened its supervision of multinational corporations, focusing on their working conditions. Recent developments at Nawon and Nawon Korea, its headquarters in South Korea, give us an insight into how an MNC decides whether to relocate under rapidly changing market situations. The management’s reaction to the policy changes and the wage hikes reveal the dynamics of global capitalism that lead investors to constantly move around the world, searching for favorable conditions for profit maximization. This chapter also highlights the increasingly troubled workers’ situation at Nawon, which was created by the factory’s deteriorating financial condition and a gloomy rumor about an impending factory closedown.Less
Chapter Eight concludes the book by speculating on the future of Nawon and the groups of people involved in its operations. Since 2005, the Chinese government has amended its regulations on minimum wages to decrease the growing income gap between the rich and the poor. The government also tightened its supervision of multinational corporations, focusing on their working conditions. Recent developments at Nawon and Nawon Korea, its headquarters in South Korea, give us an insight into how an MNC decides whether to relocate under rapidly changing market situations. The management’s reaction to the policy changes and the wage hikes reveal the dynamics of global capitalism that lead investors to constantly move around the world, searching for favorable conditions for profit maximization. This chapter also highlights the increasingly troubled workers’ situation at Nawon, which was created by the factory’s deteriorating financial condition and a gloomy rumor about an impending factory closedown.
