The Research On The Evolutionary Development Of The Division Of Labor In Chinese Furniture Industry

The birth and development of furniture industry is closely related with the development ofsocial division of labor. The development of Chinese ancient furniture craftsman wasaccompanied by that of social division of labor. Great successes in the development of Chinesefurniture industry gained worldwide attention during the past one hundred years. Chinesefurniture industry developed from the artisanal form, showing the decentralization ofself-sufficient form. Today, the Chinese furniture industry has formed a certain scale in the field.Reviewing the development of the division of labor in furniture industry, we can further improvethe content and system of the development of Chinese furniture history and understand thedeveloping process of Chinese furniture industry comprehensively. It will help to keep thehealthy development of Chinese furniture industry in the global background of the high-speedvarying from minute to minute.This paper reviews the process of the division of labor in Chinese furniture industry throughthe use of a series of scientific investigation and summarization method. It reviews and analyzesthe ancient, modern and contemporary division of labor in Chinese furniture industry. Themethod of PEST is employed to analyze the development of division of labor in Chinesefurniture industry from the political and legal environment, the economic environment, the social&cultural environment and the technical environment. The method of SWOT is also employedto analyze the internal division of labor system of furniture manufacturing enterprises. Then, thecounter-measures are put forward to upgrade the competitiveness of Chinese furniture enterprisesin the global value chain. Finally, the developing trend of the division of labor in Chinesefurniture industry is suggested.(1)The occupational division in chinese ancient furniture industry is in the embryonic stageof traditional chinese furniture industry. The typical feature of this period is it is closed. With thedevelopment of the industry, like all kind of technical development, chinese furniture industryhas experienced from the scattered, individual to agglomeration, from ancient all sorts of crafts tothe three hundred and sixty lines of evolution. Like most other industries artisans, craftsmen oftraditional furniture industry have four common characteristics:1)They have no social status.There is a strong personal attachment.2)They have a hereditary identity, and the occupation isrelatively stable.3)They rely on manual skills to survive.4)The organization is closed, with thelow level of development. The mode of inheritance of traditional techniques：The father taughthis son; the teacher taught the disciples; apprentice education was set up by the government.Whether it is a family workshops or government-run workshop, the technology communicationof the handicraft industry has been limited. Handicraft technology of ancient Chinese furniturehas a certain degree of closure, which makes the development of industry division closed, too.(2)The occupational division in Chinese ancient furniture industry is in the stage of development of traditional Chinese furniture industry. In this century, the modern Chinesefurniture industry has experienced from the manual workshop production to mechanizedindustrial transformation. The development of the division of labor in furniture industry has beenaffected by many factors in the specific historical period, such as the western learning spreadingto the east, the seeds of capitalism and the changes of lifestyles. During this period, Chinesefurniture production has been mainly in handicrafts stage. Most furniture factories are smallworkshops, thus the process of wood furniture production has been completed by manualoperation. In some foreign business furniture companies or national furniture stores, there aresome improved equipments.(3)The occupational division in ancient Chinese furniture industry is in the stage ofmaturity in traditional Chinese furniture industry. With the development of the economicglobalization, there is a clear trend of horizontal division system and the vertical division systemin the division of labor system in modern Chinese furniture industry. Furniture industry can notexist and develop in isolation like any other modern industries. Presently, the enterprise internalvalue chain, industrial value chain and the global value chain have been formed, including theproduct development, design, manufacturing, marketing, sales, consumption, services and aseries of links.(4)By using the method of analysis and induction, the influential factors of thedevelopment of the division of labor furniture industry include: political and legal environment;economic environment; social environment and technology environment. In the global valuechain, the factors preventing the chinese furniture enterprises from upgrading include: technicalbasis of furniture enterprises; thinking model of furniture enterprises; supporting capacity of therelated industries; related policy of processing trade. It is put forward that the countermeasures ofupgrading the competitiveness of chinese furniture enterprises in the global value chain.(5)Through analyzing the trend of the development of division of labor in Chinesefurniture industry, it can be found that the formation and development of the industry is closelyrelated to the division of labor system in Chinese furniture industry. In the global value chain, ifwe want to upgrade the furniture industry status, make it develop fast and healthily, and enhancethe competitiveness of the local furniture enterprise, we must rely on the joint efforts from thegovernment, the market and the industry itself. In this paper, the proposal is put forwarded at thegovernment level, the industry level and the enterprise level. This study can be used for thecurrent Chinese furniture industry focusing on the development of division of labor.