SITE MAP SEARCH! E & B GEOG RESOURCES A-Z INDEX


Automobile Industry

Resources

(http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/readings/cars.html)


Supporting & Related Pages:

Internet Sites:

Clippings:

Daimler-Benz - Chrysler Merger [1998]

1998 Auto Outlook Symposium: The Urge to Merge?" Chicago Fed Letter, September 1998 [PDF file]

Analysts agree: GM's troubles are still there Seattle Times, Sunday, August 2, 1998

' By confining their settlement of a 54-day strike to local disputes at five plants, General Motors and the United Auto Workers have delayed tackling broader problems... Job security, productivity, and future capital investments are still expected to be flashpoint issues when the current three-year national pact expires next September. ... GM won no broad concessions in the Flint... "Ultimately, for the current level of business, GM has too many people, too many models, too many plants and too many divisions"'.

Too many cars, too few buyers Seattle Times, Sunday, May 10, 1998 [The problem: too many car factories, too few car buyers] by Seattle Times wire services

"That's the costly mismatch that keeps executives up at night as the global auto industry begins what most experts agree will be a grim shake-out. While factories can build 75 million vehicles a year, there is demand for only 52 million, and new plants are still opening. The question is, who will survive? The number of automakers has fallen from 42 a generation ago to less than 20 today."

Daimler-Benz will acquire Chrysler Seattle Times, Thursday, May 7, 1998; by John Hughes and Eric R. Quinones

DETROIT - German industrial giant Daimler-Benz, the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, has agreed to acquire Chrysler for more than $38 billion in stock in a deal that weds two companies whose image and corporate cultures are vastly different.

AUTO COMPANIES FORM TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCE (Daimler/Ballard/Ford) [Week in Germany, April 10, 1998)
Since innovation knows no borders, Germany's largest industrial firm is teaming up with a handful of firms from across the globe to work on a technology that could revolutionize the auto industry. Daimler-Benz announced at its headquarters in Stuttgart Tuesday (April 7) that it has formed an alliance with Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, Michigan) and Ballard Power Systems (Vancouver, British Columbia) to develop fuel cells to power a new generation of automobile engines. Ford, with an investment of U.S. $420 million, will have the largest stake in the $700 million project. The Mazda Motor Corporation will also participate in the fuel cell venture through its existing ties with Ford. The four companies hope to beat their competition and bring the world's first complete fuel cell auto system to the market by 2004.

Imports rise, Big Three fret as yen sinks Seattle Times, Sunday, Dec. 28, 1997; by Rachel Konrad, Knight-Ridder Newspapers

The Big Three are worried. And rightly so. Japan's economy is in trouble. Its currency is at a 5 1/2-year low. Japanese consumers are in debt. Few people can afford to buy new cars. But Japanese automakers aren't slowing down their assembly lines or laying off workers. In fact, most are pumping out more cars and trucks than a year ago.

Literature: [under construction]

ANDERSON, MALCOLM, JOHN HOLMES (1995): High-skill, Low-wage Manufacturing^M^M in North America: A Case Study from the Automotive Parts Industry. Regional^M^M Studies Vol. 29. Nr. 7. S. 655-671

^M^M

BLÖCKER, ANTJE, BETTINA WALKER (1994): Automobilregionen im Vergleich.^$ Die regionale Bedeutung der Volkswagen AG in Südostniedersachsen und Zwickau/Chemnitz. In: Kilper, Heiderose, Dieter Rehfeld (Hrsg.) (1994): Konzern und Region – zwischen Rückzug und neuer Integration. International$ vergleichende Studien über Montan- und Automobilregionen. (= Stadt und Region 1). Münster.

Campbell, John Creighton. Entrepreneurship in a "Mature Industry". Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies. 1986 [HD9710.A2.E58]

Cowhey, Peter F. and J.D.Aronson, Managing the World Economy: The Consequences of Corporate Alliances. Council on Foreign Relations, 1993. (Ch.5: Automile Sector) [HD69.S8.C69.1993, Suz]

Dassbach, Carl H. A., Michigan Technology University "Where is North American Automobile Production Headed: Low-Wage Lean Production"

This site is a very lengthy report on the future of the North American auto industry. It provides a good deal of background information, such as information about the Auto Pact, and the FTA, as well as the GATT talks. [Annotation by A.Pope (Geog.207, Wi 1996)]

GAEBE, WOLF (1993): Neue räumliche Organisationsstrukturen in der Automobilindustrie . Geographische Rundschau H. 9. pp. 493-497

Hudson, Ray. A new map of car production in Europe? Geography review [Deddington] Vol. 9. No. 4. March 1996. p. 28-29. Map.

Humphrey, J., Lecler, Y. and Salerno, M.S., (eds.), Global Strategies and Local Realities: The Auto Industry in Emerging Market, Macmillan Press Ltd: Basingstoke, London and New York, 2000

Klier, Thomas H. Agglomeration in the U.S. Auto Supplier Industry. Economic Perspectives (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago), 1999, 23(1), p. 18.

Analysis of plant-level data shows the auto supplier industry to be spatially highly concentrated. Data on location of the plants production system show that the system emphasizes low inventories and tight linkages.

Krumme, G.

LAGENDIJK, ARNOUD (1997): Towards an integrated automotive industry^M^M in Europe: a merging filière perspective. European Urban and Regional Studies Vol. 4. Nr. 1. pp. 5-18

Luger, Stan. Corporate Power, American Democracy, and the Automobile Industry Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Krumme, G.

Mair, Andrew. Honda's Global Local Economy. St Martin's Press 1994. [HD9710.J34.H65435.1994b/BA]

Introduction: Underestimating the Japanese
Ch.1: Thinking about the Japanese Firm
Ch.2: Honda at Home Base
Part II: A 'Self-Reliant Motor Vehicle Company' in North America
etc.

Monnich, Horst. The BMW Story: A Company In Its Time. London 1991. [HD9710.G3.M66.1991/BA]

Morgan, Kevin, "Reversing Attrition? The Auto Cluster in Baden-Wuerttemberg," in: Barnes & Gertler, eds., The New Industrial Geography: Regions, Regulations and Institutions. Routledge 1999 [HD58.N48.1999]

O'hUallachain, Breandan and Wasserman, David, Vertical Integration in a Lean Supply Chain: Brazilian Automobile Component Parts, Economic Geography, Vol. 75, No. 1, January 1999, pp. 21-42

Rubenstein, J.M., Changing U.S. Auto Industry: Geographic Analysis. 1992 [HD9710.U52.R83]

Sachs, Ben. Reorganizing Work: The Evolution of Work Changes in the Japanese and Swedish Automobile Industries. NY: Garland, 1994. [HD9710.J32.S23]

Sadler, David, Internationalization and Specialization in the European Automotive Components Sector: Implications for the Hollowing-Out Thesis, Regional Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2, April 1999, pp. 109-19

This paper explores two questions: the geographical conditions associated with an altered relationship between automobile assembly and component firms in Europe; and the ways in which automotive component firms have restructured their operations on a global basis.

Schamp, Eike, "Towards a spatial reorganisation of the German car industry? The implications of new production concepts," in: Benko, G. and M. Dunford, eds., Industrial Change and Regional Development: The Transformation of New Industrial Spaces. Belhaven/Pinter, London 1991., pp.159ff. [HC79.D5.I5/1991]

Yang, Xiaohua. Globalization of the automobile industry : the United States, Japan, and the People's Republic of China. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 1995. [Automobile-industry-and-trade. Automobile-supplies-industry. International-business-enterprises. Competition-International. United-States, Japan, China. Business Admin General Stacks HD9710.A2 Y36 1995.]

Return to Economic & Business Geography
2000 [econgeog@u.washington.edu]