The Diagnostic Imaging Equipment Industry: What Prognosis for Good Jobs?

This paper draws on the case study literature on diagnostic imaging, on publicly available industry data, and on the business press. It also incorporates very preliminary findings from interviews and site visits by the author and others at five diagnostic imaging companies, two in the United States and three in Japan. At the companies' request, their identities must currently remain confidential. Some of the company-based research has been supported by the Sloan Foundation through a project entitled "Corporate Restructuring Skill Formation, and Earnings Inequality". The paper unfolds in four sections that mirror the four propositions. Each section summarizes both quantitative trends and case study evidence. The evidence available from published sources, coupled with preliminary interview findings, reveal quite a few interesting patterns, but also leave a great deal unanswered. Consequently, we follow these four sections with a brief conclusion making the case for additional case study research and sketching directions for such future research.