The seminar will involve the following two presentations, in conversation.
Xieshu Wang, Zhao Wei Specialized Vertical Integration: Value Chain Strategy of Power Lithium-ion Battery Firms in China
Stephane HEIM, Kosuke KAKITANI, Jaeho LEE, Hiromi SHIOJI – Speaker: Stephane Heim The competition patterns and dynamics of the Chinese Li-ion battery industry
Asia is the host of some of the largest automobile markets and top global brands. It has recently taken several initiatives to foster its regional integration, such as Asia-wide trade agreements and infrastructure projects. This article examines the impact of these initiatives on the automobile fragmented production networks of Northeast, Southeast Asia and South Asia to see if they are becoming more regionalised or globalised, and to see if an Asia-wide production network is emerging. We focus on automobile component trade as a proxy of network trade and follow its evolution over the period 2001–2016 at the Asian and subregional level with a special emphasis on two major players, China and Japan. Our results show that a regionalisation process is under way between the three subregions, driven by China and Japan. However, this process is still slow due to the persistence of a high level of protectionism between the three subregions.
