Robert Perrucci. JAPANESE AUTO TRANSPLANTS IN THE HEARTLAND:
CORPORATISM AND COMMUNITY. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1994.
xii+186 pp. ISBN 0-202-30582-7, $37.95 (hardcover); ISBN 0-202-
30529-5, $18.95 (paper).
Reviewed by
Carl H. A. Dassbach, Department of Social Sciences, Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA
Robert Perrucci's JAPANESE AUTO TRANSPLANTS IN THE HEARTLAND
is not a study of transplants as factories. There is little or no
discussion of work, management relations, or quality control
inside Japanese automobile transplants, and anyone interested in
these topics would be better served by books such as Kenny and
Florida's BEYOND MASS PRODUCTION or Womack et al.'s THE MACHINE
THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. Perrucci, in other words, is not
interested in transplants as �things,� he is interested in
transplants as �process� and specifically in the factors and
forces leading to their location in certain midwestern communities
in the United States.
[Page 2]
As the book correctly points out, this "transplant
phenomenon" is the result of both global and national, or what
could be called macro, and state and local, or micro,
determinants. Perrucci�s discussion of the macro determinants is
probably the weakest part of the book. Not only does he overlook
some important points, e.g., the role of MITI or the effects of
the VRA (the Voluntary Restraint Agreement between Japan and the
U.S.) on aggressive Japanese companies, but he repeats much of
what has already been observed about transplants. On the other
hand, the originality and strength of this book lies in its
analysis of the micro determinants. Previously, these received,
at best, some scattered attention (e.g., Green and Yanarella,
eds., THE POLITICS OF INDUSTRIAL RECRUITMENT, 1990). In this
book, Perrucci systematically examines these by comparing informal
and formal state and local policies and practices which led to the
construction of Japanese auto transplants in several Midwest
communities. Perrucci concludes that the important determinants
at the micro level were the ability of an "activist" state and
[Page 3]
local governments, working in conjunction with local business
elites, to provide incentives for, and construct a consensus
around, the new plant, its people, and its economic benefits. He
refers to this alliance between state, local governments and local
elites for the purpose of attracting investments and stimulating
the economy as "embedded corporatism" and argues that it is _not_
a transitory phenomenon, arising solely to meet the demands of
luring the transplants. Instead, "embedded corporatism"
represents "a significant and historic change in the way political
and economic life is organized" (p. 35). The clearest indicator
of the growth of "embedded corporatism" over the last 20 years is
the growth of interest among states, as evidenced by a doubling in
the number of conventional programs and the creation of new
programs, in promoting economic development. This, in turn, is a
response by states to declining Federal and local revenues due to
deindustrialization and increased responsibility for the welfare
of its citzenry. In a the largest sense, Perrucci sees "embedded
corporatism," of which the transplant phenomenon is only one
[Page 4]
instance, as part of a new "social structure of accumulation"
consisting of regional economies and "based on close cooperation
between private corporations and state government" (p. 35).
In my opinion, this book is well worth reading; it addresses
relevant points about both transplants and the future of the
American political economy. Some may be dismayed by the middle
chapters because they read like a community study in the vein of
Vidich and Bensman's SMALL TOWN IN MASS SOCIETY. But the strength
of this book, and its relevance to world-system concerns, is that
it links these community level developments with broader trends.
This was, in fact, the espoused intention of the author: "our case
study approach will show how broad formulations of global change
are reflected in the day-to-day actions of politicians, business
owners, labor officials, environmentalists and other community
members...." (p. 37), and it has been achieved with an extremely
high degree of success.
