Organizational Architecture and the Adoption and Use of New Technologies: Evidence from Italian and US Survey Data

We provide results from a detailed survey of automation of firms in the automotive sectors in the United States and Italy. In both countries, we find evidence of heterogeneity of organizational architectures—some firms organize around a “Taylorist” approach and others around a “Pragmatist” approach. We find some notable differences in the adoption and use of new technologies, particularly robots. In the US, robots are considered an effective tool to address skill shortage, but not as much in Italy. This is partly explained by the fact that finding workers who possess the desired skills is seen as a major challenge in the US. Overall, Pragmatist firms in both countries appear more likely to adopt robots to increase quality rather than to reduce unit and labor costs.