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

KATHRIN REFERENCES LITERATUR LOER
OEM-side. Different reports and consultancy
studies forecast a promising economic future
for the mega suppliers because of vertical
disintegration of tasks, growing specialization
and the need for flexibility (Mercer
Management Consulting 2004, Verband der
deutschen Automobilindustrie (VDA) 2003,
Kinkel, Zanker 2007, Kinkel, Lay 2005). In
an extreme scenario, one could think about
task sharing to such an extent that the OEM
is “merely” responsible for marketing and
distribution as well as for the management of
the automotive brand(s), whereas the supplier
industry performs all steps of the production.
Research and development in the development
of a new automobile model is also vertically
disintegrated. Considering such a high impact
for supplier companies regarding production
activities, one could raise the question
whether relocation of production sites may
be economically advisable to escape high-cost
countries (e.g. Germany or Austria). From the
perspective of (Western) European automobile
producers, this question is asked again given
very attractive conditions for production
activities in Central and Eastern Europe as
well as their proximity to the automobile
producer’s headquarters in France, Germany,
Italy etc. Indeed, the automotive industry
can be identified as a pioneer regarding the
constitution of new sites in Central and Eastern
Europe, not only since the “iron curtain” fell in
1989 (Bandelj 2008) but also with investments
of GM and Suzuki, for example, in Hungary
already in the early 1980s (Sadler, Swain 1994).
As this was the case for the OEM, the supplier
industry also realized the new opportunities or
was forced to follow the OEMs to gain new
contracts.
The automobile industry retains a large volume
of employment as (despite a high degree of
automation) the assembly of automobiles still
requires manpower on a large scale, especially
for the production of certain supply parts as
well as during the last steps of the assembly line.
Workers in the automotive sector unionized
and founded workers’ councils in the early years,
which continuously grew and developed in the
second half of the last century. Particularly in
Europe the development of the automobile
industry was accompanied by the growth of
trade unions (metal unions). Hence, in this
paper the perspective on enterprise’s strategies
and interdependencies between the OEM and
the supplier industry is complemented by the
perspective on power and powerlessness of the
workers’ councils. Negotiation and bargaining
processes between the workers’ councils of the
traditional and established production sites
“at home” influence business and investment
strategies – not only of the respective company
but also of the dependent companies in
the supply-chain (Cooke 2006, Marginson,
Meardi 2006, Doellgast, Greer 2007). The
same is true by looking the other way around:
business and investment strategies as well as
high cost pressure can force the organized
labour of one company to concede or give
up standards or previous conditions or – to
mention an extreme case – to capitulate.
This very brief sketch of major developments
may lead to the assumption
that the supplier companies that survived
the consolidation process and
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grew in the course of joint ventures
and takeovers turn out to be the part of the automotive
sector that continues to achieve high
employment rates and are important, or even