Research Paper Instructions:

In lieu of the mid-term, graduate students are to complete a twenty to twenty-five page paper on a topic mutually agreed upon by student and instructor. To that end, graduate students will be expected to prepare and hand in not later than September 14th a brief paper prospectus of three-to-five pages outlining the proposed topic and offering a short list of references germane to the project. The various bodies of literature on the automobile industry are rich, voluminous, and growing. Moreover, given the proximity of the UK campus to the Georgetown/Toyota plant and some of its suppliers (e.g., Johnson Controls) and less so to Louisville/Ford plant, opportunities for doing at least modest empirical studies exist. So, the paper projects may range from a comprehensive and critical literature review of a salient topic dovetailing with the course to a research design for conducting an empirical study to an actual piece of research.

Undergraduates choosing the paper option will probably want to consider somewhat less ambitious undertakings. Still, even without leaving the UK library, students will find a wealth of material lending itself to a variety of studies. The library subscribes to a number of key auto journals--including Automotive News and Ward's Auto World--and these magazines highlight important trends and provide accurate statistics on auto production at U.S. and Canadian plants. In addition, an extensive set of books and monographs and professional journals providing original historical, political, economic, sociological, and geographical research on facets of the auto industry and production is housed in the library. A paper of 12-18 pages in length focusing on a significant topic and using the resources of the library would easily meet the instructor's expectations. Undergraduates interested in this option should meet with the instructor to discuss possible topics before preparing a 1-2 page proposal likewise due on September 13th.

• A Tale of Two Plants: Spring Hill's Saturn Plant vs. Ingersoll's CAMI Plant
• The Impact of Nonunionization upon Auto Workers at the Georgeown/Toyota Plant
• The Florida-Kenny Hypothesis on Organizational Tranferability: A Critical Review of the Variables and the Evidence
• Between Fordism and Post-Fordism: The Multiple Roles of Academic Research and Schools of Thought in Resolving the Crisis of Fordism in the Auto Industry
• The Many Meanings of Post-Fordism in the Debate over the Crisis of Fordism
• The M.I.T. IMVP Team Vs. the Mid-America Project on the Diffusion of Keiretsu-like Company-Supplier Relations
• Contending Views on the Impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement upon American and Canadian Auto Workers
• Employee Involvement Programs and Auto Workers: Worker Attitudes Voiced in Feldman's and Betzold's On the Line: Autoworkers and the American Dream and the CAW Research Group on CAMI Research Report
• The Role of the Hypercar in Sustainable Transportation Policy in the Future
• Changing Cultural Images of the Automobile in Popular Magazine Advertisements: Canada and the United States
• Hyundai Motor Company and the South Korean Economic Miracle: The Crisis of a Maturing NIC Auto Company--The Case of the Bromont/Hyundai Plant in Canada
• The Saturnization of the UAW? The Promise and Peril of Union-Management Cooperation and Jointness
• The Debate over Pat Choate's Agents of Influence: Japan-bashing or Critical Investigative Journalism?
• The Controversy over the Meaning of Domestic Content in the U.S.-Canadian Free Trade Agreement
• The British Auto Industry and its Autoworkers in the Thatcher Era: The Case of Nissan's Sunderland Plant
• The Braverman Deskilling Hypothesis and the Multi-skilled Worker
• Burawoy's Manufacturing Consent and the Sources and Forms of Worker Resistance to Shop Floor Dehumanization
• An Updated Ledgersheet on the Collins Incentive Package to Toyota
• Ford Motor Company and the Taurus: An Alternative to Lean Production?
• Industry Renewal without Lean Production: the Revival of Ford Motor Company