Manufacturing firms and local jobs : the influence of competitive strategies on labor in the garment sector of San Francisco El Alto, Guatemala

Abstract

This empirical research address how the growth gained by San Francisco El Alto's garment sector has spread across the local population. It makes evident how the family-owned firms that comprise the local industry have learned to built the strategies they use in order to be competitive at their core set of markets, and how these strategies have influenced the patterns of jobs creation, and working conditions that today exist in the municipality. A moving picture of connections between firms and local labor market development is described through the historical account of the evolving local industry. Main findings include political-economic ones at the local and national level supporting the capacity of local fabric wholesalers to reduce the costs of raw materials to local manufacturers at the time that the expansion and diversification of small and medium-size manufacturers have spread local jobs. Class clashes, ethnic ties and long term family economic strategies are found having influence in local leaning about how to build competitive strategies. The importance of domestic and regional markets, as well as similar markets from neighboring Central American countries, as well as the South of Mexico, as their core market niches is also addressed.