Debates over industrial restructuring and “global competition” in South
Africa today are simultaneously analytical and political. Under the auspices
of the Industrial Strategy Project (ISP), important segments of organized
labor are invoking the discourse of post-Fordism and flexible
specialization to press for a high road of industrial development marked by
technological dynamism, enhanced productivity, interfirm cooperation,
and a multiskilled, high-wage workforce (e.g., Kaplinsky, 1991, 1994