Editorial - Michel Freyssenet

Old and New Industrial Models

It has been asserted that an industrial model is a process of establishing an internal coherence and an external relevance to the changes undergone during the life of a firm. This means that at no time will we be able to observe a completely pure model, in the sense that it is possible and necessary to construct it theoretically. What is important is the dynamic at work.

A model cannot be reduced to a few principles, since all (or almost all) of the case studied would have been classified (save for a few details) under a single model. Thus it is when we utilize solely the three industrial principles of interchangeability, additivity and linearity, together with mass production (whether diversified or not). On the other hand, an initial classification appears to be possible and useful on the basis of two criteria which appear to be increasingly useful discriminants: the link between productive efficiency and forms of remuneration, and the link between the design-production of the product and the development-constitution of the market, that is to say modes of managing the twin uncertainties of work and the market, which go together in our economic system.

An industrial model includes components without which it does not work and does not last: particularly an appropriate employment relationship, an appropriate capital structure and type of management, a relevant interpretation of the market and a corresponding product range, links with viable suppliers and distributors, etc.

Characterizing a model therefore implies filling in the content of each of these items. These components are interlinked. Each ensures the viability of the other. This probably means that a component with a different content sets off a dynamic which makes the content of the others evolve, even if these latter remain formally identical for a short or long period. Thus organization according to a mobile line, or "just in time", can be emptied of their socio-productive content or take on another meaning if the employment relationship corresponding to them has not been implemented.