Space, power and representation: The case of `Team Toyota' and the state of Kentucky

The crisis of U.S. Fordism and the advent of new federalism during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush forced many of the states to reject the politics of federalism and national economic development and embrace the politics of industrial recruitment for competitive advantage. Several midwestern and southern states began to compete for the opportunity to locate a host of Japanese automobile assembly plants in their jurisdictions. This study examines the controversy surrounding the growing hegemony of Japanese automobile assembly plants over the local economies of rural and semi-rural communities in the U.S. states by focusing on the case of the state of Kentucky and the Toyota Motor Corporation's first independent U.S. automobile assembly plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK). TMMK's location in the semi-rural community of Georgetown, Kentucky, has spawned a new geography of automobile production which is based on a just-in-time production regime, a new model of labor control, and a new moral economy of cooperation and corporate welfare vis-a-vis the local community of Georgetown and the rest of Kentucky. Company-level processes and company-community level relationships related to the transformation of the U.S. automobile industry and corporate hegemony over local political economies were investigated.;A qualitative research methodology was adopted to investigate the issue and intensive research design incorporating multiple forms of data sources, including in-depth interviews, on-site company visits, company documents and secondary literatures, were utilized. Intensive qualitative interview data from workers, company officials, and part suppliers were used to construct a comprehensive locally-specific understanding of corporate hegemony and the changing political economy of automobile production in the U.S. states.