In 1989, the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity produced the Made in America report. One of the recommendations of Made in America was to establish the Industrial Performance Center (IPC) to carry on the interdisciplinary investigations of industrial productivity, innovation, and competitiveness that the Commission had begun. Established in 1991, with the help of a major grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the IPC has brought together faculty and students from all five MIT Schools in research collaborations on industry. Since its inception, the faculty, students and affiliates of the IPC have produced numerous books, articles, papers and other publications that have advanced the understanding of strategic, technological, and organizational developments in a broad range of industries.
Article | March 18, 2021
Innovation In Institutions And Technology Can Help Us In The Post-Pandemic Recovery
Report | November 20, 2020
The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines
MIT President L. Rafael Reif commissioned the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future in the spring of 2018. He tasked us with understanding the relationships between emerging technologies and work, to help shape public discourse around realistic expectations of technology, and to explore strategies to enable a future of shared prosperity.
Working Paper | September 30, 2020
Strengthening advanced manufacturing innovation ecosystems: The case of Massachusetts
Several studies have highlighted the need to maintain and build manufacturing capabilities to support economic growth and have linked a nation's as well as region's strength in manufacturing to its ability to innovate.
Working Paper | September 30, 2020
Innovation and Production: Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, Trends and Implications for US Cities and Regions
Changes in advanced manufacturing technologies as well as the economics of manufacturing have significant implications for the location and spatial organization of production.
Book | April 25, 2019
Innovation in Brazil, Advancing Development in the 21st Century
Since the early 2000s, state-led and innovation-focused strategies have characterized the approach to development pursued in countries around the world, such as China, India, and South Korea. Brazil, the largest and most industrialized economy in Latin America, demonstrates both the opportunities and challenges of this approach.
Working Paper | January 25, 2019
Globalization and Jobs in the Automotive Industry
As we enter the new millennium, globalization has emerged as one of the most salient and powerful forces shaping domestic and world economies. Accordingly, a debate has emerged in recent years over the causes and consequences of globalization.
Working Paper | January 25, 2019
Leveraging Capabilities: Models of Foreign Production in the Taiwanese Automotive Industry
“Going global” by establishing or expanding foreign production capabilities has long played an important strategic role for firms in the automotive industry.
Working Paper | January 24, 2019
Thinking about technology: understanding the role of cognition and technical change
Scholars of technical change have long been interested in understanding the ways in which new technologies shape and are shaped by firms and industries. Much attention has been focused on the three fundamental questions in the field – How do technologies evolve?
Working Paper | January 23, 2019
Institutions, Public Policy and the Product Life Cycle: Globalization of Biomanufacturing and Implications for Massachusetts
Biomanufacturing, specifically of large molecules, is one of the most complex types of manufacturing that exists. The challenge of scaling up living organisms combined with purifying their products to ensure safe administration to human beings creates a high risk process technically, financially, and from a public health perspective.
Book | January 22, 2019
Securing Prosperity, The American Labor Market: How It Has Changed and What to Do About It
We live in an age of economic paradox. The dynamism of America’s economy is astounding — the country’s industries are the most productive in the world and spin off new products and ideas at a bewildering pace. Yet Americans feel deeply uneasy about their economic future.
Book | January 22, 2019
Clockspeed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage
Charles Fine draws on a decade's worth of research at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management to introduce a new vocabulary for understanding the forces of competition and making strategic decisions that will determine the destiny of your company, as well as your industry.
Book | January 22, 2019
Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the United States 1921-1953
In this thought-provoking book, David Hart challenges the creation myth of post — World War II federal science and technology policy.