The Industry Studies Workshops Series promotes workshops that further research on topics that cut across industries or otherwise advance scholarship in industry studies. The framework that has been established for this Program is very flexible. Expressions of interest will be discussed by the Industry Studies Committee with the idea of identifying workshop topics that can be moved forward and funded as quickly as possible.

    The range of proposed topics is substantial. Some workshops may be stimulated by current events such as the employment consequences of outsourcing. Workshops also can be used as a way of helping related research projects to be shared across industries. At times, such topics as supply chains, globalization, high performance work systems, wage inequality, industry clusters, homeland security and benchmarking all have been the focus of activity by a cross section of scholars in the industry studies community. In the area of globalization, for example, Affiliates have led and participated in numerous workshops including:

Marketing, Merchandising, and Retailing: The Role of Intermediaries in Global Value Chains (University of Washington)

Globalization, Employment and Economic Development (Duke University)

Globalization of Services (Stanford University)

Globalization, China and the Industry Studies Program (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

Additional workshops have explored topics such as:

The Global Call Center Research Project

New Industrial Capabilities in India and China

Best Practices in Achieving Financial Sustainability in Industry Centers

Professional Development Workshop for Industry Studies Early-Career Scholars

Seminars are sponsored throughout the year to disseminate research findings among Center faculty and other Industry Studies Affiliates and are targeted especially to promote career development. Affiliates are also encouraged to visit each other's universities to explore collaborative projects.

Industry Studies Affiliates interested in organizing a workshop, seminar series, or collaboration are encouraged to visit the Industry Studies section of the Foundation's Web site for more information.