Networking and project organization in the styrian automotive industry

There has been an increasing emphasis recently in the management and organization literature on the rise of ‘temporary systems’ and ‘projects’ in the advanced economies. Most frequently such phenomena have been observed for the sectors of the ʼnew economy’ such as media and film, telecommunication and software, where creative people with diverse skills are required to work together on a complex task over a limited period of time. However, projects and temporary organizations have been important also in traditional sectors such as the engineering industry (see Chapter 13) or the automotive industry. The driving forces here are the move towards a post-Fordist production and regulation system, lean production, and a speeding up of innovation cycles and product development.