For scholars studying this "industry of industries," this collection provides essential analysis of mobility's contested future.
Highly recommendable for readers interested in the change dynamics in this core industry!
This book draws a thought-provoking picture of the ongoing market and technological changes in the global automotive industry, offering a comprehensive analysis of the evolving automaker, supplier, and policymaker strategies in various parts of the world.
The automotive industry is undergoing fundamental organizational changes related to the transition from the production of internal-combustion-engine vehicles towards the production of low- or no-emission powertrain technologies. In addition, the ongoing transformations in this sector are shaped by the dramatically changing geopolitical context – including the increasing technological rivalry between China and the West.
In response, this edited volume offers an in-depth examination of the automotive industry, with emphasis on the ongoing transformations in the international divisions of labour, the regional and national production models, and the established value-chain relations. Collecting contributions from established and emerging scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the book brings together empirical research on different regions relevant for the changing globalized production system of the automotive sector – including the European Union, East Asia, and North America.
Martin Krzywdzinski is Professor of International Labor Relations at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany.
Grzegorz Lechowski is researcher at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg and the WZB Social Sciences Center Berlin (Germany).
John Humphrey is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Sussex Business School, UK.
Tommaso Pardi is a sociologist, senior researcher at the IDHES (CNRS and Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris-Saclay), France.
The automotive industry is undergoing fundamental organizational changes related to the transition from the production of internal-combustion-engine vehicles towards the production of low- or no-emission powertrain technologies. In addition, the ongoing transformations in this sector are shaped by the dramatically changing geopolitical context – including the increasing technological rivalry between China and the West.
In response, this edited volume offers an in-depth examination of the automotive industry, with emphasis on the ongoing transformations in the international divisions of labour, the regional and national production models, and the established value-chain relations. Collecting contributions from established and emerging scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the book brings together empirical research on different regions relevant for the changing globalized production system of the automotive sector – including the European Union, East Asia, and North America.
Martin Krzywdzinski
Global value chains Automotive industry Electromobility Technological change Digitalization
“Now the world automobile industry is extremely turbulent and difficult to predict. Neither one-sided stereotype nor faddish thinking will work here. What we need now is flexible thought that accepts a variety of hypotheses with a deep sense of industrial evolution. This book’s framework of technology-policy-firm-market diversity will provide us with such basic ways of thinking.” (Takahiro Fujimoto, Waseda University, Japan)
“This timely global analysis examines the sector’s unprecedented convergence of transitions: the shift to zero-emissions vehicles, the evolution of autonomous and connected technologies, and the emergence of mobility-as-a-service platforms. The volume offers crucial insights into how industrial policy is reshaping competitive dynamics between incumbents and new entrants, with particular attention to China's dramatic ascendance in both EV production and battery supply chains. For scholars studying this "industry of industries," this collection provides essential analysis of mobility's contested future.” (John Paul MacDuffie, Wharton School University of Pennsylvania, USA)
“This research-based book explores the key drivers of the transformation of the car industry towards e-mobility and discusses its consequences and strategies of actors in a worldwide perspective. Highly recommendable for readers interested in the change dynamics in this core industry!” (Ulrich Jürgens, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany)
“'Global Shifts in the Automotive Sector' draws a thought-provoking picture of the ongoing market and technological changes in the global automotive industry. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the evolving automaker, supplier, and policymaker strategies in various parts of the world. Established experts in the field discuss different determinants and mechanisms shaping the sectoral transformation, while placing them in the context of growing political uncertainty and uneven socio-economic impacts.” (Bolesław Domański, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland)