Manufacturing Conflict: The Experience of a World Factory in a Changing China

Abstract

This article explores the mechanism driving China’s soaring labor unrest from the perspective of management. It demonstrates how Foxconn adjusts in response to the dynamics of the global production network and China’s labor market, and how such practices are inextricably linked to growing workplace conflicts. Foxconn’s elementary management is characterized by coercion, which is reinforced by the management techniques it has forged as a contract manufacturer in the global supply chain facing the increasing costs of raw materials, labor, and so on. The widespread dissent generated in this process is aggravated by the changing composition and the worsening financial condition of its labor force—predominantly the new generation of migrant workers. Although Foxconn has attempted to develop consent on the shop floor, its efforts have largely failed because of the power asymmetry in the global electronics industry.