Welcome back to the Strategic CSR Newsletter!
The first CSR Newsletter of the Fall semester is below.
As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.
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The article in the url below contains a map that shows the extent to which robots have transformed manufacturing in the U.S. In particular, the map shows the density of robots per worker in each county of the U.S.:
"The upper Midwest, particularly Michigan, was ground zero for the robot explosion from 1990 to 2007. That makes sense, since the automobile industry uses more robots than any other. The other hot spots also make sense on closer inspection. In Beaumont, Texas, lots of workers are employed in the plastic, chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry, another big user of robots. Wilmington, Delaware, has a big chunk of workers in that industry and others in car manufacturing, according to Restrepo, one of the researchers."
A second chart demonstrates the effect a higher density of robots has had on employment:
"Those increases tended to mean fewer jobs. Of course, lots of factors weigh on employment. Foreign competition, overvaluation of the dollar and rising productivity all play a big part, too. But even after taking all those other factors into account, [research] found that additional robots in an area reduces workers and cuts local wages."
The article also does a good job of identifying industry-specific trends. As you might expect, certain industries are more negatively affected by an influx of robots than others and, contrary to general perceptions, the effects are still pretty localized:
"The first industrial robots were developed for the auto industry, which still accounts for over half of U.S. robot orders."
There is no indication that robots have started teaching CSR classes, … yet!
Hope you all have a great semester.
David
Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler4e
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More Robots, Fewer Jobs
By Mira Rojanasakul and Peter Coy
May 8, 2017
Bloomberg Businessweek
