Optimizing the Global Value Chain: An Analysis of the Automobile Industry

Ana Colovic and Ulrike Mayrhofer ()
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Ana Colovic: Pôle de Recherche - Rouen Business School - Rouen Business School
Ulrike Mayrhofer: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon

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Abstract: This article analyzes location strategies pursued by multinational corporations. The authors examine different conceptual frameworks proposed in the literature, in order to identify major determinants of location choice. The analysis focuses on production and R&D activities, which play a strategic role in the global value chain of companies. The field chosen for empirical investigation is the automobile industry, in which the spatial dimension plays a particularly important role. In a context in which markets and competition are globalised, car manufacturers need to optimize the location of their activities in order to remain competitive. The argu-ments presented show that most manufacturers concentrate a large part of their production and R&D activi-ties in their country of origin or home region. However, the relative importance of production and R&D facilities based abroad is constantly growing, especially in emerging markets, which can be considered as particularly attractive territories for multinational corporations. In a context in which the attractiveness of cities, regions or countries seems to be in a state of constant change, the present study enhances our under-standing of location choices made by multinational corporations.

Keywords: Location Choice; Multinational Enterprises; Automobile Industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Published in Jorma Larimo. Strategies and Management of Internationalization and Foreign Operations, Vaasan yliopisto - University of Vaasa, pp.386-409, 2009

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00690195

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