Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The new competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers

The new competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers Purpose – The literature identifies different sources of competitive advantages. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that an efficient articulation of a Voice behavioral model and an Exit behavioral model can result in a sustained competitive advantage for automobile manufacturers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on the analytical framework of the global value chain literature to analyze how the combination of hierarchy, relational linkages and market linkages creates additional assets. The case of Volkswagen‐Skoda in the Czech Republic is used to illustrate the combination of Voice and Exit relationships. Findings – The paper suggests that the competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers crucially depends today on the combination, on the one hand, of the “relational rent” provided by the cooperation with global suppliers, and on the other hand, of the “switching rent” provided by the absence of implication in the relationship with lower‐tier suppliers. Originality/value – The paper represents an original research initiative that considers the combination of three types of linkages as the source of competitive advantage. The paper uses a case study to exemplify the declination and articulation of the three types of linkages. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Strategy and Management Emerald Publishing

The new competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers

Eric Rugraff
Journal of Strategy and Management , Volume 5 (4): 13 – Oct 26, 2012
Download PDF
13 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-new-competitive-advantage-of-automobile-manufacturers-GLSVOesRDL
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1755-425X
DOI
10.1108/17554251211276371
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The literature identifies different sources of competitive advantages. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that an efficient articulation of a Voice behavioral model and an Exit behavioral model can result in a sustained competitive advantage for automobile manufacturers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on the analytical framework of the global value chain literature to analyze how the combination of hierarchy, relational linkages and market linkages creates additional assets. The case of Volkswagen‐Skoda in the Czech Republic is used to illustrate the combination of Voice and Exit relationships. Findings – The paper suggests that the competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers crucially depends today on the combination, on the one hand, of the “relational rent” provided by the cooperation with global suppliers, and on the other hand, of the “switching rent” provided by the absence of implication in the relationship with lower‐tier suppliers. Originality/value – The paper represents an original research initiative that considers the combination of three types of linkages as the source of competitive advantage. The paper uses a case study to exemplify the declination and articulation of the three types of linkages.

Journal

Journal of Strategy and Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Oct 26, 2012

Keywords: Czech Republic; Automobile industry; Competitive advantage; Suppliers; Global value chain; Types of linkages

References

  • The geography of innovation: regional innovation systems
    Asheim, B.T.; Gertler, M.S.
  • Globalization and the death of the local firms? The automobile components sector in South Africa
    Barnes, J.; Kaplinsky, R.
  • Automotive supplier integration from automotive supplier community to modular consortium
    Bennett, D.; Klug, F.
  • Organizational learning and communities‐of‐practice: towards an unified view of working, learning, and innovation
    Brown, J.S.; Duguid, P.
  • Spaces and scales of innovation
    Bunnell, T.; Coe, N.
  • Sunk costs: a framework for economic geography
    Clark, G.L.; Wrigley, N.
  • Automotive database
    Czechinvest
  • EU‐Osterweiterung
    Deutsche Bundesbank
  • Foreign direct investment stock statistics
    Deutsche Bundesbank
  • The relational view: cooperative strategy and sources of interorganizational advantage
    Dyer, J.H.; Singh, H.
  • The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st Century
    Freyssenet, M.
  • Geographical proximity and supplying relationship in modular production
    Frigant, V.; Lung, Y.
  • The governance of global value chains
    Gereffi, G.; Humphrey, J.; Sturgeon, T.
  • Local knowledge: tacit knowledge and the economic geography of context, or the undefinable tacitness of being (there)
    Gertler, M.S.
  • Competing for the Future
    Hamel, G.; Prahalad, C.K.
  • Strategy and irreversibility in supplier relations: the case of the US automobile industry
    Helper, S.
  • Supplier relations in Japan and the United States: are they converging?
    Helper, S.; Sako, M.
  • Exit, Voice and Loyalty
    Hirschman, A.O.
  • Characteristics of the European automotive system: is there a distinctive European approach?
    Jürgens, U.
  • Knowledge of the firm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation
    Kogut, B.; Zander, U.
  • What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning
    Kogut, B.; Zander, U.
  • Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation
    Lave, J.C.; Wenger, E.
  • The changing geography of the European automobile system
    Lung, Y.
  • Localised learning and industrial competitiveness
    Maskell, P.; Malmberg, A.
  • Foreign Direct Investment and Industrial Development in Mexico
    Nunez, W.P.
  • Regional restructuring of the Skoda auto supplier network in the Czech Republic
    Pavlinek, P.; Janak, L.
  • Competitive Strategy
    Porter, M.
  • L’intégration économique entre l’Allemagne et les pays d’Europe centrale
    Rugraff, E.
  • Foreign direct investment and supplier‐oriented upgrading in the Czech motor vehicle industry
    Rugraff, E.
  • Skoda annual reports
    Skoda
  • Global value chains in the automotive industry: an enhanced role for developing countries
    Sturgeon, T.; Van Biesebroeck, J.
  • Value chains, networks, and clusters: reframing the global automotive industry
    Sturgeon, T.; Van Biesebroeck, J.; Gereffi, G.
  • World Investment Report, FDI from Developing and Transition Economies: Implications for Development
    UNCTAD
  • Autojahresbericht
    Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA)
  • Volkswagen AG annual reports
    Volkswagen (VW)