The spatial restructuring of work and maquiladoras of the auto industry

Spatial restructuring of work across borders is an ongoing process that relies on heterogeneity of place. Strategic differentiation is fundamental as the more and greater are differences in the organisation of work; the more local labour forces are undermined. Taking the Mexican maquiladora automotive industry as an example of cross-border spatial restructuring, the paper asks if and how labour is undermined by: 1) consciously constructed functional differences and; 2) the active exploitation of existing local differences. Strategic differentiation is heavily dependent on the specifics of place, while the specifics of place themselves can serve as additional, pre-existing sources of differentiation.