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

KATHRIN REFERENCES LITERATUR LOER
these countries are also to a certain degree
internationalized. As the case studies will
explain, there are very different concepts
followed by the contract manufacturers
grounded in different ratings of opportunities
and economic risks but also dependent on their
relation to the OEM. Central and Eastern
Europe attracts investments from all kinds of
automobile industries, contract manufacturers
are not excluded. As far as the interdependencies
between OEM and contract manufacturers are
concerned, there is strong evidence suggesting
less balance and more power of the OEM with
the result that the dependency gains weight in
one direction. It shall not be forgotten that the
automobile industry started with a high degree
of manufacturing in its early years (at the end of
the 19 th century / beginning of the 20 th century);
in the market for “premium cars”, individualized
products, skilled workers, manpower and
engineering capabilities are still important. If
OEMs decide to outsource production, it is
presumably this part of the product portfolio.
The role of Central and Eastern European
countries for this production will be explained
with regard to the case studies.
4.3 Case Study 1.
This case study takes a closer look at the
Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, which was
founded in 1901 (Knust 1996). Until recently,
Karmann employed around 8.000 persons
spread at six locations worldwide (Karmann
2006, Handelsblatt.com 2009a). The company
specialized historically in manufacturing
cabriolets as well as modules necessary to build
cabriolets such as retractable tops. During the
last years, several rounds of layoffs needed
to be executed (still some layoffs could be
prevented). Overall, the situation for the
company staff has worsened since 2006. At
the moment, the insolvency proceedings
are short of being concluded (Handelsblatt.
com 2009b, neue-oz.de 2009). Excluding the
current and ongoing events, the Karmann case
shows interesting aspects for the purpose of
this paper. With regard to different categories,
serious changes can be observed. As a family
business, the company grew steadily and
employed around almost 10.000 people at
the company’s climax. Over time, Karmann
emerged to an established regional company that
was well known nationally and internationally
for its niche production of cabriolets. Long time
tradition and strong regional roots are main
characteristics that can also be identified by the
embeddedness of the principal of the company in
social and political networks. This might be seen
as typical for German family owned business,
but also for the industrial sector and specificly
the metal sector. Especially the grandson of the
founder and also the first successor beyond the
family were very much involved in “old-boysnetworks”,
the traditional, informal German
management-networks used to negotiate and
complete deals, for example at the automotive
fair. As such, Karmann mostly cooperated
with German OEMs for the manufacturing of
automobiles in the 1970s and 1980s. Rooted
in trust, long-time relationships and business à
la “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”
characterized most of the deals.
Trusting in the apparent assurance
to be and stay market leader in the Seite page 71
special niche segment of cabriolet
production, the company was not
bothered with fear for its existence during a
long period, although the production of cabriolets
always had to deal with fluctuations. In former