Manufacturer trajectories and strategies

To various degrees, the world’s leading manufacturers have all been affected by the search for a sustainable compromise between the requirement that they restructure their activity portfolios in the more mature markets and their development of a major emerging country presence. Understanding how each company is managing this phase of their internationalisation strategy and how it resembles or differs from manufacturers’ earlier phases is the general specification for contributions made under this chapter.

Understandably, particular attention will be paid to the productive and commercial ramifications of manufacturers’ emerging country strategies. The same applies to examinations of the design activities that are starting to be located in spaces that used to be considered peripheral, or dedicated product policies that certain manufacturers are now developing. Lastly, although studies of large global carmakers from Europe, the United States, Japan or Korea will continue to play an important role in this analysis, studies of emerging market manufacturers that are independent or have ties to the aforementioned group are also welcomed (i.e. Chana, Tata, FAW, Geely, Chery, Donfeng, Beijing Automotive and BYD).