In 1989, the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity produced the Made in America report. One of the recommendations of Made in America was to establish the Industrial Performance Center (IPC) to carry on the interdisciplinary investigations of industrial productivity, innovation, and competitiveness that the Commission had begun. Established in 1991, with the help of a major grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the IPC has brought together faculty and students from all five MIT Schools in research collaborations on industry. Since its inception, the faculty, students and affiliates of the IPC have produced numerous books, articles, papers and other publications that have advanced the understanding of strategic, technological, and organizational developments in a broad range of industries.

Working Paper | January 22, 2019

The University as an Engine of Innovation: Critical Case Studies from Brazil and the U.S.

Elisabeth B. Reynolds

Executive Director, MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future; Executive Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center; Principal Research Scientist; Lecturer, Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Fernanda de Negri

The university’s role now extends well beyond just research and education to more applied and translational work with industry as well as more entrepreneurial activities that support new venture formations among students and faculty.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Exploring the Risks of Value Chain Modularity: Electronics Outsourcing During the Industry Cycle of 1992-2002

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

This paper focuses mainly on the issues of supply-base concentration and increased buyer-supplier lock-in through an examination of recent trends in what is perhaps the best case of value chain modularity, product-level electronics.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Diffusion of Academic R&D Capabilities as an Industrial Innovation Policy? – The Development of Israel’s IT Industry

Dan Breznitz

This paper focuses on the Israeli case and argues that unlike India and Ireland, Israel's competitive advantage in the IT industries, is in Research and Development (R&D).

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

The 2010 National Organizations Survey: Examining the Relationships Between Job Quality and the Domestic and International Sourcing of Business Functions by United States Organizations

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Clair Brown

Connor Cole

This paper presents the results from the 2010 National Organizations Survey (NOS). The survey is representative of U.S. full-time jobs.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Services Offshoring Working Group Final Report

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Frank Levy

Although the scale of services offshoring has likely been modest so far, it will inevitably grow and stimulate changes in the United States economy — both positive and negative — through the relocation of work and the internationalization of innovative activities.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Direct Measurement of Global Value Chains: Collecting Product- and Firm-Level Statistics on Value Added and Business Function Outsourcing and Offshoring

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Peter Nielsen

Global value chains (GVCs) have changed the assumptions behind current data regimes and statistical systems are struggling to catch up. In this chapter, we confront the obvious. It will be exceedingly difficult to fill the data gaps caused by global economic integration without new data.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

How Computerized Work and Globalization Shape Human Skill Demands

Frank Levy

Richard J. Murnane

Our purpose in this paper is to outline these changes and their educational implications from an economist’s perspective. In sum, what education and skills are needed to earn a decent living in the labor market created by computers and globalization?

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Offshoring and Radiology

Frank Levy

Ari Goelman

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Modular Production’s Impact on Japan’s Electronics Industry

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

This chapter examines the process of global integration through the lens of national industrial models – the collection of routines and strategies generally shared by corporate managers in a particular society.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

Value Chains, Networks and Clusters: Reframing the Global Automotive Industry

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Johannes Van Biesebroeck

Gary Gereffi

In this article, we apply global value chain (GVC) analysis to recent trends in the global automotive industry, with special attention paid to the case of North America.

Working Paper | August 30, 2018

From Commodity Chains to Value Chains: Interdisciplinary Theory Building in an Age of Globalization

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Recent changes in the global economy, especially the rise of East Asia as an economic force, have rendered static notions of permanent dependency and underdevelopment obsolete.

Book | August 30, 2018

The Dynamics of Local Learning in Global Value Chains Experiences from East Asia

Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Sturgeon is a Senior Researcher at the IPC.

Momoko Kawakami

This book investigates the process and mechanism of the capability development of East Asian local manufacturers, which has underpinned their phenomenal rise in the world's competitive landscape of industrial production during the last few decades.