CONVERTING THE TRY

The 10th international conference that the GERPISA organised on 6, 7 & 8 June 2002 at the French Senate building in Paris brought together nearly 150 researchers and professionals. The geographic origins of our speakers and participants reflected the global composition of our network: 40% came from France, 30% from other European countries and 30% from other regions in the world (including 15% from Brazil). Researchers accounted for nearly 70% of those present, with the remainder being comprised of professionals working for the most part for automobile companies (BMW, Faurecia, Nedcar, PSA, Somaca, FIEV), not to mention the presence of a union representative and of several public organisation policymakers. 2 round tables, 35 communications (which are out on CD-ROM) and a public debate tied to the projection of a video all provided opportunities for participants to present and discuss the findings of their studies, notably pertaining to the main conclusions of the GERPISA 3rd programme on co-ordinating competencies and knowledge in automotive systems. Our visit to Toyota's plant in North France give us a chance out in the field to further extend our discussions.

The various CoCKEAS project workpackages that were presented provided us with an opportunity to discuss the provisional conclusions of recent studies our members have made of the transformations affecting the European automobile system, notably:
 

1. the new relationships between carmakers and first tier suppliers given the diffusion of modular production and the introduction of ICT (G. Volpato);
2. the role that the other actors in the automobile system play (J.J. Chanaron);
3. the impact of financialisation and the different issues associated with automobile usage (K. Williams);
4. the new geography of automobile production (Y. Lung); and
5. European distinctiveness compared with the other regions of the world (U. Jürgens).

Although it appears to be difficult to justify the hypothesis of a European model, most analysts agree that the regional (i.e., supranational) level of analysis remains a relevant one for apprehending interactions between actors, despite the fact that firms deploy their profit strategies on a different scale. In addition, many also agree that the European automotive system presents a certain number of distinctiveness in terms of the relational dimension of co-ordination, and that this could lead to a competitive advantage which is quite different from that which prevails in the world's other regions.

Analyses of the interactions between corporate strategies and institutional environments are in need of further fine-tuning, and the next few months will be devoted to an assimilation and a synthaetical work of all of the scientific production that our network members have achieved over the past few months. It is on the basis of this as yet unfinished effort that we will be developing the GERPISA's next scientific programme.

We are going to take advantage of this period to get our younger researchers more directly involved in our efforts to integrate new approaches, and as a result they will be asked to assume greater responsibilities within the network. Ph. students accounted for more than 20% of all participants and speakers at the GERPISA latest conference, and our doctoral training mission should translate into an increased integration of young researchers.

For this reason, the Steering Committee has decided to start up a certain number of projects that will lead to changes in the network's modus operandi. These changes will affect GERPISA workdays and other workshops, as well as the organisation of our next international conference in June 2003. We will share with you the first steps being taken in this direction in the upcoming issues of the Lettre du GERPISA.
 
 

Index of number 161 ;
All the Editorials in La Lettre du GERPISA ;
Available numbers ;