Persistent Variation: Flexibility,Organization,and Strategy in the Logistics of Importing Automobiles to the United States,1980–99

The author presents case studies that reveal persistent variation in the logistics operations of firms importing new automobiles to the USA from 1980 to 1999. He argues that, in addition to the recognized differences such as national origin, product mix, and production organization, the strategic organization of logistics itself constitutes a basis for persistent variation. Firms operating at a global scale face heightened uncertainties in matching supply and demand and hence have a heightened requirement for flexibility. This is theorized in this paper as the ability to collect and transmit information, both codified and tacit, within and across various spatial scales. However, these informational goals imply very different organizational structures that are in tension. In ideal-type terms, firm organizational structures vary in the degree to which they are localized—referring to the intra-regional collection of information through horizontal relationships between the firm and external actors—or globalized—referring to the interregional transmission of information between portions of the firm. Persistent variation is the most likely outcome as firms constantly seek to reorganize their logistics operations in historically contingent, experimental, and contested ways.