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Competitive Advantage in the Information Age

In: Automation and World Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Ashoka Mody

    (The World Bank)

  • David Wheeler

    (Boston University)

Abstract

Present-day robots can work tirelessly, and they are rapidly growing cheaper. For relatively simple tasks, they are already facile enough to be competitive with high-cost workers in the OECD countries. Their impact on the industrial process is strikingly conveyed by a European textile executive’s description of a night visit to an automated textile mill in Japan: It is pitch dark… Robots have no eyes, so they need no light. Malfunctions are signalled to a control centre. The problem spot is then lit and a qualified engineer fixes the snag… No more than ten people, boss included, are needed per shift to run the 30,000 ring spindles that represent $22 million in investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashoka Mody & David Wheeler, 1990. "Competitive Advantage in the Information Age," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Automation and World Competition, chapter 1, pages 1-24, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-11312-5_1
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-11312-5_1
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