Lean Production “with Chinese Characteristics”: A Case Study of China’s Automobile Industry

The concept of “lean production” has attracted much attention and sparked considerable debate among social scientists on work and workplace restructuring. This study seeks to engage with the lean production debate through a case study of China’s automobile industry. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in seven large auto-assembly plants in China, the article explores how lean production is implemented in the Chinese context, how it has affected workplace and workers, and what successes and problems have arisen. It finds that intensified competition and China’s specific conditions have driven automakers to adopt mixed strategies by combining certain lean techniques with the existing Fordist–Taylorist mass production system, while utilizing some effective socialist organizational practices. Despite the general move toward a lean-flexible workplace, there are notable variations in employment practices at the factory level that influence outcomes of lean production. The Chinese case provides new evidence that supports the “diversity” perspective and an integrated approach, which underline substantial national and subnational variations in the implementation and outcomes of lean production. The evidence shows that in the absence of independent trade unions, lean production leads to an intensification of work and greater managerial control. The findings suggest the need to bring analysis of capitalist labor process and shop-floor control, resistance, and accommodation back in to understand lean production.