Europe de l'Est

Configuration of the North American and European auto industries – a comparison of trends

Klier, Thomas, & Jim Rubenstein (2011).  Configuration of the North American and European auto industries – a comparison of trends. European Review of Industrial Economics and Policy. The sharp economic downturn that began at the end of 2007 severely impacted the auto industries on both sides of the Atlantic. The paper summarizes changes in the industry footprint for both North America and Europe. In North America the current geography came about through a dramatic reallocation of market share and subsequent plant turnover. In Europe an expansion of the industry footprint was motivated by the opening of Eastern European countries and markets. Only in North America did the recent recession significantly reduce production capacity. The locations of parts producers are closely tied to assembly locations in both regions to support just-in-time production. Yet, the supply base appears more spatially concentrated in Europe.

Environmental pressure in fragmented markets: the fall and rise of bus makers in Poland

Gwosdz, Krzysztof, Robert Guzik, & Boleslaw Domanski (2011).  Environmental pressure in fragmented markets: the fall and rise of bus makers in Poland. European Review of Industrial Economics and Policy. The authors explore differences in the strategies and capabilities of foreign and domestic bus-makers located in Poland, in an attempt to capture the factors behind the radical changes in the structure and geography of this sector in the country. This includes the decline of traditional bus manufacturers and the rise of new foreign and domestic manufacturers, including the successful expansion of Solaris as one of the major European manufacturers of environmentally-friendly buses. Growing environmental pressure along with a need for new technologies in bus manufacturing is interpreted as a window of opportunity for a reconfiguration of the bus manufacturing industry in Europe. The importance of flexibility and willingness to meet specific customer needs in the fragmented national and local markets is emphasized.

La Russie : anti-Europe de l’Est

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

Autrefois géopolitiquement liées, la Russie et les PECO l’étaient aussi économiquement. La chute du mur a fait éclater le bloc il y a un peu plus de 20 ans. La première est restée politiquement et économiquement centrée sur elle-même en contrôlant aux deux niveaux son ouverture à l’Ouest. Les seconds sont, avec l’Allemagne de l’Est d’abord et ses anciens compagnons d’infortune ensuite, rentrés dans l’UE. Ils ont au fond troqué leurs statuts de périphérie plutôt développée du bloc communiste pour devenir la périphérie en développement de l’ensemble européen. lire la suite

Cars21 ou l’improbable politique industrielle européenne

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

Autoactu nous indiquait cette semaine la publication du rapport intermédiaire de Cars21 deuxième vague qui, suite à la crise, a repris en 2010, la démarche d’analyse et de recommandations qu’avait initié le premier Cars1 au milieu des années 2000. La démarche est intéressante et relativement originale puisqu’elle consiste à organiser très officiellement une confrontation des points de vue sur les régulations produites à Bruxelles et ailleurs et ayant un impact important sur l’industrie automobile. On tente pour cela de réunir au sein d’un "groupe de haut niveau " les différents responsables des politiques publiques européennes, nationales et même régionales d’une part et les différentes parties prenantes à la vie de l’industrie (constructeurs, équipementiers, distributeurs, organisations syndicales…) d’autre part. Par rapport à la première vague, la seconde a étendu la concertation en conviant en particulier l’industrie pétrolière et les distributeurs d’électricité. lire la suite

La Russie : laboratoire des ambitions françaises dans les émergents

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

Les dix jours écoulés ont été dominés en France par les annonces très contrastées des deux constructeurs nationaux qui ont semblé à certains égards vivre dans deux mondes différents. Plus que leurs ventes en Europe et en France qui, chez PSA comme chez Renault baissent au troisième trimestre (de 11% et 4% respectivement), ce sont leurs capacités à profiter de la croissance des émergents, et, à terme, à y tenir des positions fortes qui sont en cause. Dans le même temps, l’accent était mis sur la Russie : AvtoVaz annonçait un doublement de ses profits au premier semestre et l’entrée de la Russie dans l’OMC- que retardaient en particulier les exigences fixées par l’Etat russe en matière automobile – semble se dessiner pour décembre. lire la suite

Retour vers le futur de l’intégration européenne que l’on nous promettait en 2004

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

En menant une recherche sur la dernière phase de l’intégration européenne, celle qui nous a fait passer d’une Europe à 17 à une Europe à 27, j’ai exhumé un numéro spécial qu’avait consacré en 2004 la revue Réalités Industrielles au sujet pour célébrer l’entrée des premiers PECO (Pays d’Europe Centrale et Orientale). Il inclut entre autres un article très évocateur consacré à l’automobile .

On y lit notamment :
"La plupart des spécialistes estiment la demande régionale à 2,4 M de véhicules neufs d’ici 2010, soit plus 15 % de la demande projetée de l’UE15 contre 6 % actuellement. A beaucoup plus long terme, et au regard du poids de ces pays dans la population européenne, la région recèle un potentiel de 4 M d’immatriculations de véhicules neufs par an.
Ces perspectives justifient l’agressivité commerciale des constructeurs. La région constitue un enjeu stratégique à moyen terme où les jeux ne sont pas encore faits. Mais il s’agit d’un processus lent et qui peut s’avérer cyclique :
- l’Espagne est ainsi passée d’un taux d’équipement de 71 véhicules/1000 habitants en 1970 (37 % de la moyenne UE15) à 408 en 1998 (UE15 = 451), et son parc reste âgé puisque 35 % des voitures ont encore plus de 10 ans ; lire la suite

Industrie automobile. La croisée des chemins

Jullien, Bernard, & Yannick Lung (2011).  Industrie automobile. La croisée des chemins. Etudes. L’industrie automobile a profondément structuré nos sociétés au XXe siècle : ses procédés de fabrication, ainsi que ses rapports sociaux, se sont étendus à l’ensemble de l’industrie, cependant que la généralisation de la possession de voitures individuelles structurait autour d’elle les espaces urbains. Cette prédominance a été contestée dans les années 1970, avec la critique de la société de consommation et la mise au jour des problèmes de sécurité et de pollution engendrés par la circulation. Plus tard, l’explosion de la demande, puis de la production, dans les pays émergents va poser de façon plus aiguë les questions de la limitation des ressources fossiles et des conséquences climatiques du tout-voiture. La crise de 2008 a accentué la prise de conscience de la nécessité de réviser au niveau mondial les procédés de fabrication et les usages de l’automobile. Confrontée à de nouveaux défis, l’industrie (notamment française – Renault et PSA) a commencé à explorer des pistes : production dans les pays émergents de véhicules très bon marché également vendables dans les pays développés, délocalisation des activités de conception, perspectives prometteuses de la voiture électrique dès lors que s’ouvrent de vastes marchés... L’industrie automobile semble être au seuil d’une révolution.
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Les économies développées face aux pays émergents: L’Union Européenne mise à l’épreuve de la politique industrielle chinoise

Basbous, Bernard (2011).  Les économies développées face aux pays émergents: L’Union Européenne mise à l’épreuve de la politique industrielle chinoise. Sciences politiques. Sciences politiques, études européennes, 64.L'industrie automobile occupe une place particulièrement intéressante au sein de l'Union Européenne et en Chine. Elle a constitué un des piliers de la capacité industrielle de nombreux États européens au 20e siècle et se trouvait au cœur des mouvements qui ont amené sa particularité au « modèle social européen ». Face à ce relatif aboutissement de l'industrie européenne, apparait aujourd'hui une Chine qui est à un moment différent du développement industriel. Non contente de produire des biens manufacturés à faible valeur ajoutée, la Chine vise ce qui a fait le cœur de la puissance industrielle occidentale : les produits à haute composante technologique, comme l'automobile aujourd'hui et l'aéronautique demain. En raison de l'importance de l'industrie automobile pour l'Europe, l'Union européenne (UE) trouve des intérêts à défendre ses constructeurs à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur de l'espace communautaire. Le Droit étant au cœur du processus d’intégration européenne et l’UE étant envisagée par de nombreux auteurs comme une « puissance normative », le moyen étudié dans ce travail pour défendre les intérêts européens à l'étranger est la Norme. Autrement dit, l’Union Européenne parvient-elle, en Chine, à défendre les intérêts des constructeurs automobiles originaires de ses États-membres par le recours à la norme ? L'objet de ce travail est de tenter d'apporter des éléments de réponse à cette question.

Foreign Direct Investment and Intra-Industry Trade: The case of automotive industry in Central Europe

Havas, Attila (1997).  Foreign Direct Investment and Intra-Industry Trade: The case of automotive industry in Central Europe. The Technology of Transition: Science and Technology Policies for Transition Countries. 211-240.

Automotive investment projects across borders have significantly intensified in recent years, as companies have attempted to cut costs via re-location of production, and to get closer to final customers in emerging markets. This chapter analyses the impacts of this global re-structuring process in three Central European countries: Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland.

The Czech and Polish automotive industry has been privatised via ‘brown-field’ investment projects: foreign investors have simply taken over existing companies. In other words, these indigenous, long-established production complexes are being replaced and displaced by Western companies. The process inevitably entails conflicts between traditional and new management methods and work practice. In Hungary, by contrast, car assembly has been re-established via green-field investment projects: there was no ‘old’ industry to be replaced. Hence there was no room for conflicts between traditions and new practices either. It resembles the Japanese practice: all their transplants in the US and UK had been located in the ‘desert’, i.e. in regions with no automotive tradition – precisely in order to avoid the sorts of conflicts that are inevitable on a brown-field scenario.
 
It is argued that Central European governments need to (i) provide adequate funds for education and training, (ii) promote R&D capabilities and (iii) offer investment incentives geared towards lean production so as to avoid being locked into a low-wage, low-tech, low-value-added ‘development’ path.

Beyond labour cost: political and strategic factors in the investment strategy of Toyota in Europe (1989-2004)

Pardi, Tommaso (2006).  Beyond labour cost: political and strategic factors in the investment strategy of Toyota in Europe (1989-2004). (Pries L., BosowksiC., Ed.).Europäische Automobilindustrie ai Scheideweg. 47-60.Why in the first place did Toyota decide to manufacture their cars in Europe, after all, their market share back in 1989 was only of 2.2% across the European continent? Why did they establish their plants in countries like UK and France, which figure among the so-called high cost countries? And why today do they keep investing and expanding their facilities and the number of their employees in these countries while most of the European manufacturers are either scaling down their investments in their home countries or shifting their attention to East Europe or China? Even if answering these questions implies to a certain degree making a short historical analysis of the European adventure of Toyota, my focus here will be mainly on the strategic approach in terms of investment policy implemented by Toyota to face the challenge of the European markets, and on the different factors, more or less contingent and structural, which have affected so far this strategy. From a more general theoretical standpoint, I will try also to argue that, despite the fact that labour cost plays of course an important role in shaping investment decisions for manufacturing companies, this is not at all the only factor, and the investment policy of Toyota in Europe is a good example of the other multiple decisive dimensions which surround investment strategies. Policy obligations, institutional strategies and social compromises, currency risks and financial stability, value chain and logistic constraints, workforce skills value and structural externalities, the list could be longer, and each of these elements has a specific weight within the architecture of each sector and within the position and strategy of each company. Therefore, our general theoretical expectation here is that we will see a variety of approaches to delocalisation and investment policy, as we have seen before for previous major strategic issues, like the need to converge to the lean production standards, the imperative of globalisation, or the pressure for mergers and alliances, and this will depend on the very particular features of the automobile sector, on the trajectories and institutional environments of each company and on their market positions and profit strategies. This paper does not have however any major theoretical ambitions, and its aim is simply to give some understanding of the investment policy of Toyota in Europe, with a particular focus on their British and French plants

Video: Plenary sessions - 8th of June 2011 - Is the Second Automobile Revolution on the Way

Date: 
08/06/2011
François Gayral, Direction Marketing  & Communication Monde, Renault
Pascal Feillard, Direction Stratégie Produits Marchés, PSA
Jean-Paul Bailly, Président du CECRA
Olivier Melis, Président de Mobivia
Philippe Payen, Directeur de la Stratégie, de la Recherche et du Développement Durable de Veolia

Emission / Séminaire / Colloque: 

19th Gerpisa International Colloquium

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Plenary session I. Between greening and BRICs: trade offs and synergies

Bernard Jullien, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan

Michel Freyssenet, CNRS

François Gayral, Direction Marketing  & Communication Monde, Renault
Pascal Feillard, Direction Stratégie Produits Marchés, PSA

Plenary session II. Reconfiguration of the value chains: old and new actors in the automobile system

 


Bernard Jullien, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan 

Jean-Paul Bailly, President of CECRA
Philippe Payen, Director of Strategy, Research and Sustainable Development

Olivier Melis, General Director of Mobivia

 

Organised with the support of the Ministry of Research

 

Vidéo: Sessions Plénières - 8 juin 2011 - La Seconde Révolution Automobile est-elle en cours ?

Date: 
08/06/2011
François Gayral, Direction Marketing  & Communication Monde, Renault
Pascal Feillard, Direction Stratégie Produits Marchés, PSA
Jean-Paul Bailly, Président du CECRA
Olivier Melis, Président de Mobivia
Philippe Payen, Directeur de la Stratégie, de la Recherche et du Développement Durable de Veolia

Emission / Séminaire / Colloque: 

19ème Colloque International du Gerpisa

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Session plénière I. Réduire les émissions et être présents dans les marchés émergents : quelles politiques produits et quels arbitrages 


Bernard Jullien, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan

Michel Freyssenet, CNRS

François Gayral, Direction Marketing  & Communication Monde, Renault
Pascal Feillard, Direction Stratégie Produits Marchés, PSA

Session plénière II. Restructuration des chaines de valeur : anciens et nouveaux acteurs dans le système automobile 


Bernard Jullien, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan 

Jean-Paul Bailly, Président du CECRA

Olivier Melis, Président de Mobivia
Philippe Payen, Directeur de la Stratégie, de la Recherche et du Développement Durable de Veolia


 

Réalisé avec l'aide du ministère chargé de la recherche

Automotive mobility in the world. What alternatives ?

Feillard, Pascal (2011).  Automotive mobility in the world. What alternatives ?. Pascal Feillard Head of Marketing Intelligence & Foresight Secretary General of IVM Mobility :  Ability of individuals to set up a physical link between their activities (i.e. social/economic/cultural) and their housing and to manage the changes of state and location Some data 70-75% of European Mobility is done with automobile 60% of European Mobility is urban or peri-urban In 2009, 50% of the world population lives in urban areas, 80% in the developed countries In 2020, 60% of the world population will live in urban areas, 80% in the developing countries Of the 20 largest urban areas, only 3 will be in developed countries (Tokyo, New York et Los Angeles) What automobile for what cities in 2015/2020 ?

The Second Automobile Revolution is underway! Three scenarios in confrontation

Freyssenet, Michel (2011).  The Second Automobile Revolution is underway! Three scenarios in confrontation. Gerpisa colloquium. Since 2008, many changes confirm the second automobile revolution is underway. Three of its four conditions are fulfilled. Three scenarios of transition to cleaner cars are in confrontation: scenario of diversity, scenario of progressiveness, scenario of rupture. The last, that appears the rikiest, could impose, because the second is changing in its exact opposite: the scenario of "all at once". The first is not supported by coalized actors.

La construction de l’automobile russe : le Brésil aux marches de l’UE ?

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

Le directeur du département automobile du ministère russe de l’Economie, Dimitri Levtchenko, a annoncé mercredi que, fin mai, les accords passés avec les différents constructeurs correspondaient à des investissements totaux de 4 milliards d’euros. Les constructeurs impliqués sont, par ordre croissant d’importance des investissements prévus : VW, GM, Fiat, Ford et l’Alliance Renault-Nissan. On retrouve, de manière assez frappante, les constructeurs les plus engagés au Brésil avec une hiérarchie qui s’inverse, les plus fragiles au Brésil étant ceux qui font le plus d’efforts pour prendre en Russie les positions les plus solides possibles. Il faut dire que, après une reprise très franche dans la seconde moitié de 2010 qui avait porté le marché à + 30,3% par rapport à 2009, le marché russe semble confirmer ses promesses : il s’est situé sur les 3 premiers mois de 2011 à 517 000 VP et VUL soit 77% de mieux que durant les mêmes mois en 2010. lire la suite

The demand for cars in Russia: before and after recession

Starostenkova, Elena (2011).  The demand for cars in Russia: before and after recession. Gerpisa colloquium. The demand for cars in Russia was growing rapidly during pre-recession years (2005-2008). This could be partially explained by the fact that household incomes and wages were rising faster than productivity. However, in general, the share of wages in GDP remained lower than in developed market economies, as well as Brazil and China. Income growth and expansion of car loans (up to 50% of the total sales volume) were the main drivers of the sales growth in all segments of the Russian car market. The period between 2005 and 2008 was called “the consumption boom”. To some extent, this was really so. Rosstat (the Russian statistical agency) reported some reduction of the share of savings and, consequently, an increase in the share of consumer’s expenditures of Russian households. Growing consumer confidence was mirrored by various opinion polls. The level of indebtedness remained low - it didn’t exceed 13% of the total household income (in comparison with, for instance, about 120% in the USA). The recession, which began in Russia in October 2008 (later than in most of the developed market economies), caused a dramatic reduction in the demand for cars and the auto market hasn’t recovered since then. In 2008 Russia ranked fifth in the top 10 countries in terms of car sales volume, in 2009-2010 the country moved to the last place in this list. A sharp fall in demand for cars in 2008-2009 was a consequence of the following processes: • Consumer ‘s shock as a result of recession – dramatic reduction of consumers expenditures; • reduction of the volume of car loans given by banks (from 50% of the total volume of sales in 2007 to 20% in 2009 and less than 40% - in 2010); • Growing protectionism of the state economic policy. Main arrangements of the above policy are as follow: • the increase of custom duties up to the prohibitive level stopped the import of used cars, which used to be high (stated in 2009, still effective) • scrappage program; • the preferential lending program (started in Russia in March 2009, the loan is granted for the purchase of cars or LCV of Russian production at a price less than $20.000, the rate subsidized by Government is 6%). That is, the factors, which provoked a drastic reduction of the car purchases in Russia were (at least partly) quite specific. Sales reduction was not associated only with the dynamics of household expenditures, but with custom duties increase. The car sales have started to grow quickly in the first quarter of 2011. It is rather probable that the annual volume of sales will exceed the pre-recession level. However, it is unlikely that Russia’s share of the global car market (today it amounts to only 3.2% in comparison with China’s 21.1% and 20.5% of the USA) will grow fast. The main reason – low income of 70% of the Russian households and the high income inequality (only 25-30% of households have incomes sufficient to buy a new car). It should be remained than in Russia share of wages in household incomes is high (up to 70 %) as well as differentiation of the wage levels. In terms of the market perspectives it also means that the demand for public transportation vehicles will remain high in the country. This segment of the market has the biggest potential for green, hybrids and electric vehicles of new generation. Some important facts about the Russian car market • High proportion of cars in Russia is of 10 years-old (and even older). Most of old cars are owned by low-income households. Theirs expenses on maintenance are quite substantial (up to 5% of total expenses of the low-income groups); • Before recession old cars were usually replaced by used foreign made cars. Such import was significant during the pre-recession years but it has completely stopped thereafter; • Low level of the financial services in Russia in general, low volume of mortgages and consumer and car loans; • No demand for foreign- made "green" cars and hybrids. So far, hybrid cars (like Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf) haven’t been even presented in Russia by foreign car manufacturers. These models are too expensive for most consumers and they cannot be used as premium class models because of the lack of necessary infrastructure.

De la nouvelle géographie de la production au nouveau paysage géostratégique dans l’automobile mondiale

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

La parution des chiffres de l’Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OICA) sur la production 2010 dans le monde a été relativement peu commentée. Elle fait pourtant apparaître de manière criante le caractère irréversible de l’irruption d’un nouvel ordre automobile mondial. En effet, outre le fait que la Chine assure désormais presque un quart de la production (18,2 millions des 77,6 millions de VP et de VUL fabriqués dans le monde), l’importance prise par les nouveaux pays de l’automobile durant la crise ressort avec éclat. Si l’on compare ainsi 2010 à 2007 où la production mondiale avait été de 73,3 millions, il ressort que les seuls BRIC représentaient en 2007 moins de 16 millions de véhicules produits (21,4% de la production mondiale) alors qu’en 2010 ils en auront assemblés 27 millions (c’est à dire 34,6%). De même, dans la hiérarchie mondiale des pays constructeurs, la France était encore au 6ème rang en 2007. En ayant vu sa production passer de 3 à 2,2 millions alors que la production croissait rapidement ailleurs, Brésil, Inde, Mexique et Espagne sont désormais devant elle et la France pointe au 10ème rang. Au sein de l’Europe, le redéploiement des productions est également très frappant puisque, avec une production de 857 000 véhicules, l’Italie est par exemple devenue un producteur de moindre importance que la République Tchèque ou la Pologne. lire la suite

Changing Industrial Relations in the Russian Car Industry

Krzywdzinski, Martin (2011).  Changing Industrial Relations in the Russian Car Industry. Gerpisa colloquium. The contribution examines the evolution of industrial relations in the Russian car industry on the institutional/regulatory and on the company level focusing on foreign car manufacturers in Russia. The institutional framework of industrial relations in Russia has been characterized by the coexistence of a “social partnership” rhetoric and formal recognition of the freedom of association on the one hand, and by efforts of the state to hamper the development of trade unions and to limit collective action on the other hand. The constellation of industrial relation actors is changing as the traditional post-communist trade unions are challenged by new merging union organizations. In this situation, the European, American and Asian car manufacturers arrive in the Russian market and introduce their home country models of industrial relations as an additional element to the already dynamic and contradictory setting.

Regulating cross border restructuring in the Automotive Supply Industry – any Role for European Works Councils?

Hauser-Ditz, Axel, Valentina Mählmeyer, & Ludger Pries (2011).  Regulating cross border restructuring in the Automotive Supply Industry – any Role for European Works Councils?. Gerpisa colloquium.
For more than a decade the European automotive supply industry has been in a process of a deep structural change. Due to (1) growing competitive pressure within the industry, (2) high dependence on the automobile manufacturers (OEMs), (3) substantial reorganisation of supplier-OEM-relations and (4) rapid innovation cycles the industry has seen a major consolidation with mergers and acquisitions as well as bankruptcies. Internal restructurings and cross-border relocations of production characterise this industrial sector. Mass redundancies and plant closures in some of the Western European high wage countries go hand in hand with business expansion in Eastern Europe. The recent economic crisis may accelerate the ongoing restructuring processes. Moreover, the electrification of the powertrain will have profound effects too. It will create demand for certain product groups while reducing demand for others. This, in turn, will lead to a complex internal competition inside the country/division-matrix of large suppliers.
The article examines the response of the employee side to these developments. More specifically, it investigates the role of the European Works Councils (EWCs) in restructuring processes and analyses the conditions under which EWCs can function as effective bodies of cross-border interest and labour regulation.
Drawing on a typology of internationalisation of companies, the article first attempts to characterise the internationalisation strategy of selected first tier automotive suppliers[1]: Do supplier companies differ in their approach to shift production to low cost countries? If so, is this a question of product groups/sub markets, of the companies’ home country institutions or a result of the company-specific corporate governance?
Second, the article analyses the role of the EWCs in coordinating employee response to cross-border restructurings and production relocations: How effective is the coordination of employee representatives inside EWCs? To what extent do interests of the home country locations dominate these bodies?
Third, the article tries to identify systematic causes for effective or ineffective coordination of EWC activities and the ability to somehow influence the outcome of cross-border restructurings. It is argued that compared to their counterparts of the OEMs, EWCs of large suppliers additionally have to cope with the organisational complexity of their companies, which tends to impede the emergence of effective coordination mechanisms.


[1]  The article is based on findings of current research project "European Works Councils as Actors in the Structural Change of the Automotive Supply Industry" which complements previous research on EWCs of leading OEMs. (www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ewc)

Institutional configurations and industrial dynamics in the Central and East European automotive sector

Scepanovic, Vera (2011).  Institutional configurations and industrial dynamics in the Central and East European automotive sector . Gerpisa colloquium.

  In the last two decades, the automobile industry in Central and Eastern Europe has experienced tremendous growth, partly at odds with the trends in the rest of Europe. However, in spite of the swift upgrading and development of local supply networks, the region has remained integrated into the European production architecture primarily as a production location, its growth driven almost entirely by the concerns of international manufacturers which exceed the borders of this region, and certainly those of the national economies. The paper explores this tension between the national and international and the partial embeddedness of the production cluster in the local institutional structures via the four institutionalized relationships (employment, finance, purchase and commercial) in order to trace the outline of the emerging configuration of the automotive sector in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the potential threats to its sustainability in the medium term.

PSA, Renault : derrière une convergence de façade, des stratégies contrastées

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La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

Comme l’an passé lorsqu’ils annonçaient leurs pertes 2009, PSA et Renault ont paru cette semaine être dans des situations assez comparables et converger progressivement sur un bon nombre de dossiers.

Si l’on ne tient pas compte du gain réalisé par Renault sur la vente des actions Volvo, les bénéfices correspondent à des montants proches. Les deux groupes en profitent pour se hâter de terminer de rembourser la dette de 3 milliards d’euros qu’ils avaient contracté auprès de l’Etat français au plus fort de la crise. Ils sont d’accord pour considérer que leurs ventes en Europe pourraient stagner cette année mais que la part du Reste du Monde est appelé à continuer de croître pour atteindre 50% de leurs chiffres d’affaire autour de 2013 pour Renault et en 2015 pour PSA. Mise à part la Chine, que Renault laisse à Nissan, les autres BRIC sont la priorité pour l’un et l’autre … lire la suite

Innovation Strategies of Hungarian Automotive Suppliers

Havas, Attila (2011).  Innovation Strategies of Hungarian Automotive Suppliers. Gerpisa colloquium.

It is practically impossible to delineate the boundaries of automotive industry and give an indication of its economic significance using readily available statistics. As a very wide range of products are used to assemble a motor vehicle – practically all industrial sectors supply the automotive industry –, data collected by statistical offices are usually too narrow in terms of coverage. In other words, quite a few automotive suppliers are classified as leather, rubber, plastics, paint, glass, cable or metal producing and processing companies, foundries, electrical and electronics companies, etc. The EU statistical classification also follows this line, i.e. motor vehicle parts and accessories (the “old” NACE 34.30[1]) excludes engine and tyre manufacturers, most of the electrical and electronic components, as well glass, plastic or certain castings and other metal parts. The Hungarian statistical system follows this practice, and thus figures only cover companies classified statistically as automotive firms. Relying on these types of data, ‘narrowly defined’ automotive industry (proxied as vehicle manufacturing, DM) has a significant weight in Hungary: its share in industrial production has increased from 12.2% in 2000 to 17.3% by 2007, i.e. moved from the 3rd to the 2nd place. Its revenues are earned overwhelmingly from exports: 90-91% in 2001-2008. Thus its share in manufacturing exports has exceed 25% by 2006-2008 (up from 22-23% in 2001-2005). The industry has a noteworthy 11.5% slice in BERD, and the share of innovative automotive firms is higher than that of manufacturing firms on average. Hence, there has been a strong case to analyse the innovation strategies of Hungarian automotive firms.

Besides statistical analyses, the proposed paper would mainly draw on interviews. The main findings can be summarised as follows. New products are usually brought in by parent firms. However, there are different types of exceptions to this rule. The obvious one is when formalised R&D activities are conducted in Hungary, leading to product innovations. In one such case a new product had been designed and tested in Hungary but then the Engineering Centre was relocated from Hungary – given broader strategic changes, re-allocating responsibilities among plants for the so-called OEM and aftermarket –, and hence this new product was also assigned to a different plant inside the group (outside Europe). Another source of product innovations is reverse engineering, e.g. in the case of spare parts sold on the aftermarket. Incremental innovations are also important from an economic point of view, although these are less spectacular. In these cases the idea might come either from the users, requesting improved performance or from the engineers of a supplier to reduce production costs, energy consumption and environmental burden (e.g. oil used during machining processes) or enhance product characteristics, e.g. by splicing thin metal sheets together instead of welding them. For this latter modification, the entire production process had to be redesigned, purchasing new equipment, introducing new measurement and test methods, too.
In general, production processes are designed by the Hungarian subsidiary, assisted to some extent by the parent firm or the suppliers of machinery. In most cases, subsequent process innovations are stemming from local knowledge and experience. Also, it is quite often the case that products brought in by the parent firms need to be modified for more efficient manufacturing, i.e. the sources of these minor product innovations are the Hungarian subsidiaries. A frequent form of process innovation nowadays is the introduction of manufacturing cells, usually designed by the local engineers, trained by the parent firm, and assisted by general principles applied across the various subsidiaries of the group.
As for organisational innovations, again, there might be some assistance provided by the parent firms in the form of internal manuals, guidelines and good practices, but local solutions are also encouraged. For example, so-called cross-functional teams have been introduced by an interviewed firm, composed of middle-managers responsible for purchasing, manufacturing, logistics, and quality assurance. These teams are usually co-ordinated by a sales manager, who is representing the firm vis-à-vis the client in all matters, responsible for obtaining and keeping orders, maintaining smooth co-operation with the buyer and inside the firms among the various units, and thus a profitable operation. For indigenous firms, the main sources of organisational innovations are their own ideas and/or external advisors (see above).
Marketing innovations might be of economic relevance, too, especially for suppliers specialising in the aftermarket. One such firm in our sample has established direct contacts with its major buyers (e.g. public transport service providers), and thus replaced wholesale companies.
In sum, automotive firms are in fierce competition with their counterparts (assemblers – assemblers; T1 – T1 suppliers; etc.), and thus there are strong incentives to be innovative, i.e. to introduce new products, processes, organisational solutions, management and marketing methods. Moreover, several T1 suppliers, when assess their T2 suppliers’ performance include the intensity of innovativeness among the set of evaluation criteria. Our interviews have confirmed the crucial importance of co-operation among subsidiaries of large MNCs, and that of international production networks (in case of independent suppliers). Besides, local knowledge and experience are also important sources of the various types of innovations (technological and non-technological) observed. From a different angle, beyond formalised R&D activities, many other types of knowledge are needed to underpin successful innovations.
Hence, the predominant science, technology and innovation policy paradigm – based on a sort of “high-tech” hype – needs a major revision, and policy measures should also be revised accordingly.


[1] NACE codes were revised in 2008, but as most recent data available at a 4-digit level are from 2007, the “old” NACE codes are used in this paper.

Re-organization of design and manufacturing processes in the automotive industry at a global level: a comparison of European and non-European actors’ strategies in Eastern countries and their consequences

Heim, Stéphane, & Nathalie Rodet-Kroichvili (2011).  Re-organization of design and manufacturing processes in the automotive industry at a global level: a comparison of European and non-European actors’ strategies in Eastern countries and their consequences. Gerpisa colloquium.

Among the major strategic schemes experimented by the automotive industry, that were speeded up by the present crisis, the international reorganization of productive and design processes seems to be one of the main challenges of the XXIst century for the automotive industry. If a second automobile revolution comes to pass, such a global reorganization will represent one of the major features of this “new” automotive industry. Actually there is a new trend towards international mobility of research and development and more generally of knowledge-intensive services used by industrial firms which used to be organized close to firms’ headquarters. Our study aims at highlighting what are the consequences of such a strategy implemented by automotive firms (manufacturers or suppliers) on location choices and on the subsequent reorganization of the automotive industry and subcontracting relationships in traditional as well as in selected territories. This study focuses on Europe and especially on Central and East European Countries, on the basis of the assumption that European actors’ strategy in CEEC is different from the one implemented there by their non-European competitors.

 

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