Do Workforce and Organizational Practices Explain the Manufacturing Technology Implementation Advantage of Small Defense Contractors over Non-Defense Establishments?

This paper explores whether defense contractors’ manufacturing technology advantages over purely commercial firms might be associated with differences in their workforce and organizational practices. I use unique original data collected specifically to test workforce and organizational complementarities in implementation of advanced manufacturing technology in small manufacturers. I find that defense contractors 1) have higher and deeper rates of technology use; 2) have greater success achieving manufacturing goals; 3) are more likely practitioners across a diverse spectrum of advanced workforce and organizational practices. Then, 4) econometrically, I find the defense contractors’ technology advantages positively associated with those differences in organizational and workforce practices.