Technological co-evolution of autopart maquila companies and machining workshops: The case of Mexico

Arturo Lara Rivero (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)

Jaime Arellano

Alejandro García

The aim of this work is to outline the most important current technological connections between machining workshops (MW) and autopart maquila companies (AMC) located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, on Mexico’s northern border. This research combines a historical reconstruction of a case study with the formulation of a theory and typology of relevance to the object of study. One critical hypothesis of the evolutionary theory is that a company’s dynamism lies in its ability to solve problems, as a result of which the importance of an MW that provides its cognitive and organizational capabilities to solve problems will outweigh that of an MW that supplies old components with a low technological content. In this context, our aim is to create a stylized image that makes it possible to explain the joint evolution processes that exist in the relations between autopart maquila companies and machining workshops.