The manufacturing process cycle and the industrialization of the United States-Mexico borderlands

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of the manufacturing process cycle and provides a general analysis of the developmental dynamics of industrialization, comparing U.S. industrial heartland regions with the United States-Mexico border area. The manufacturing process cycle focuses on corporate organizational behavior as a major factor influencing industry shifts and relocations. It assumes that the strategic priorities of corporate decision-making will vary according to the temporal stage of development of each industry's production process. Seven indexes and selected 3- and 4-digit industry data from U.S. regions and border states (1947–1977) and from Mexico's Border Industrialization Program (1974–1981) are analyzed to provide indications of temporal changes and phases of process development in selected border industries. The analysis concludes that, within general parameters, the performances of the majority of the various industries surveyed conform to the assumptions of the manufacturing process cycle.