UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series
The emergence of parallel trajectories in the automobile industry: Environmental issues and the creation of new markets
Bertha Vallejo #2015-037In the past few years we have witnessed how traditional manufacturing
relationships between North and South are rapidly changing and allowing
for new forms of interaction. This article suggests that we are facing,
on the one hand, a disruption of the traditional markets guided by
traditional industries towards the creation of new industries and
consequently new markets. The study proposes the co-existence of three,
not-yet competing, trajectories: (i) the traditional one between
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their subsidiaries in the
South, (ii) the emerging South (with China and India) investing and
acquiring OEMs from the North, (iii) the race for the development of
environmentally friendly technologies, pushed by public policy and
promoted by heavy public R&I funding; linked to the promotion by the
North of new industries. The implications of the interaction of these
trajectories are not yet clear. However, it seems that at least in the
current stage of pre-competitive capabilities building, collaboration
among firms (in any of its forms) rather than competition is proven to
be more efficient in reaching technological mastery. The question of how
the South will position itself in the new emerging order is still an
open one.
Key words: mobility, environment, automobile industry, innovation,
H2020, supply chain management
JEL Classification: O330, L62, L500
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