Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

KATHRIN REFERENCES LITERATUR LOER
modify these approaches in the face of serious
transformations of economic surroundings
and market transformations. Perhaps this
diagnosis could be transferred to other sectors
or market structures. The empirical contents
of this paper will support the assumption of
serious market transformations and their
complexity. To a certain degree, behaviour
and decisions of economic actors are expected
to be rational or the result of figure-based
analyses summing up the situation. The paper
will show that – at the latest – the complexity
of the business environment does not make
it possible to act and decide (completely)
rationally; economic rationality could instead
be used as an auxiliary tool to legitimate the
decisions of an economic actor.
Given a framework of transformation
processes, changes and characteristics of the
automotive sector, this paper will explain how
and why automotive companies invest abroad,
more precisely in Central and Eastern Europe. As
mentioned above, not the whole automotive
industry will be covered but rather a small
sample that might be a representative example
of the complex framework of mechanisms that
restricts, promotes or undermines the actor’s
behaviour. On the basis of the two case studies
of European “contract manufacturers”, this
paper shows under what prerequisites foreign
direct investments in Central Eastern Europe
can overstrain (medium-sized) companies as
well as when disregarding the trend to move
east leads to greater competitiveness. With
a focus on different types of foreign direct
investments of these automotive companies
in CEE transformation processes of the
market, manufacturer-supplier-relations as
well as consequences for industrial relations
will be explored. Before the two case studies
are presented, the theoretical and empirical
framework will be explained in more detail.
2. THE EUROPEAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY –
A STARTING POINT.
In order to first reduce complexity, a simple
picture is drawn: The automobile industry
evolved during the last century from small
factories producing the first, mainly handcrafted,
cars into huge corporate groups with
a very high employment volume (compared to
other parts of the industrial sector) (Altshuler
et al. 1986). Although each region of the
triad has its own specialities regarding the
production models, generally speaking similar
developments can be identified in Europe,
North America (mainly the United States)
and Japan (later: Southeast Asia) after the
Second World War. Common is especially
one characteristic feature: The automobile
is a very complex as well as labour and
knowledge intensive good. The Original
Equipment Manufacturers 2 (OEM) represent
the key players in the sector but do not build
automobiles on their own, which is why a
more or less differentiated supplier industry is
needed for automobile production (Hoetker,
Swaminathan & Mitchell 2007, Helper, Kiehl
2004, Kaufman, Wood & Theyel 2000). In the
Japanese automobile industry, supplier
companies are mostly affiliates of the
OEM (e.g. Toyota), which is a small Seite page 63
deviance to the organization of the
automotive value chain in Europe or
North America. Traditionally, the European
automotive suppliers are independent
companies varying from small and medium