@article{Verschoor:346912,
      recid = {346912},
      author = {Verschoor, Gerard},
      title = {Collective Efficiency: Mezcal Production and the  Clustering of Small Firms},
      journal = {International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and  Food},
      address = {1996},
      month = {Jan},
      year = {1996},
      abstract = {Neoliberalism, industrial reconstruction and the North  American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) increasingly dictate  the character and the agenda of Mexico's economic policy in  the 1990s. Recognizing the importance and potential of the  small firm sector within this framework, the Salinas and  Zedillo Administrations have strongly supported economic  activities once labelled as 'informal' or belonging to the  'black market'. Despite strong support, however, there is a  great dearth in studies that address the phenomenon of  accelerated expansion of the small-scale enterprise sector.  The present article examines this problematic from a  flexible specialization perspective. Against an historical  background, the author offers an account of the expansion  of mezcal production by small-scale enterprises clustered  in a micro region of the State of Jalisco. The central  argument is that the relative success of the mezcal sector  can be understood through the concepts of 'clustering' and  'collective efficiency'. Through these concepts, the author  throws some light on a form of production organization in  which a gradual increase in the division of labour has  brought about a flexible type of manufacture. This flexible  and otherwise viable production form is characterized by a  fragmentation of the labour process into a multiplicity of  individual producers, input suppliers, etc. This has  enabled rapid changes along the web of vertical and  horizontal relationships of mezcal producers and, in turn,  allowed for quick changes in production levels. The article  concludes by stating that the emergence of flexible forms  of artisanal production - like in the case of mezcal - is  relevant at a macro-economic level for three reasons.  First, because of its relative independence from complex,  sophisticated and expensive technology. Second, because of  the creation of new forward and backward linkages. Finally,  because networks of small, flexible firms are less prone to  be affected by the disruptive economic conditions that  characterize this era of globalization.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/346912},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.48416/ijsaf.v5i.374},
}