The Internationalization of Corporate R&D: Effects in the Automotive Industry of East-Central Europe

Submitted by Petr Pavlinek, Charles University in Prague, University of Nebraska at Omaha on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 05:05

Publication Type:

Conference Paper

Authors:

Pavlinek, Petr

Source:

Gerpisa colloquium, Paris (2011)

Keywords:

Automotive industry, East-Central Europe., internationalization, Research and development

Abstract:

This paper examines the development of corporate R&D in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE) in the context of the internationalization of corporate research and development (R&D) generally and the automotive industry R&D specifically. Driven by large inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) since the early 1990s, the vehicle assembly and the production of automotive components grew significantly in ECE. We investigate to what extent these production increases have also led to the development of automotive R&D as an example of a higher value-added function of the automotive value chain. We provide a more detailed analysis of the Czech automotive R&D because of its prominent position in ECE. Despite a modest growth, our analysis uncovers inherent weaknesses of automotive R&D in ECE and strong barriers to its future development related to its peripheral position in the European and global automotive production networks.

Thème: Les industries automobiles

Thème: Automobile industries