Technology Modernization for DoD Subcontractors: A Study of Market, Business, Financial, and Capital Investment Factors.

摘要

The defense industry suffers from low productivity, old plants and equipment, and low capital investments by defense contractors. Technology Modernization (Tech Mod) is one approach taken by the DOD to improve productivity through incentivizing defense contractors to invest capital in modern plants and equipment. This study was designed to investigate Tech Mod capital investment decision making at the subcontractor level. First, twenty F-16 first-tier subcontractors were randomly selected and interviewed to determine if the subcontractors participating in the F-16 Tech Mod program could be differentiated from the subcontractors who had declined to participate on the basis of certain market, business, and financial characteristics. Second, the twenty subcontractors' ranking of fourteen capital investment factors indicated those factors considered 'most significant' towards positively influencing capital investment for modern plants and equipment. The most significant capital investment factors served as the basis for the researchers' recommendations for investment incentives that the DOD should offer to subcontractors to motivate increased Tech Mod involvement and to enhance productivity throughout the subcontractor level of the defense industry. (Author)