| This study analyses the diffusion of numerically controlled machine tools in sixty Quebec and Ontario engineering and metalworking firms. Interviews with production management provide the data for a critical evaluation of labour process analysis and economic diffusion theory. Management decisions to adopt numerical control technology are found to be guided by technical criteria, contrary to labour process theory. However, economic diffusion theory is found to underestimate the extent of imperfections of knowledge of new technology in industry, the length and costs of learning to use new technology, the complexity of technological evolution, and the diversity of applications and methods of use of a particular technology. |
