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The paper presents the main results and conclusion of the European project ESEMK (FP6, Priority 7) discussing the variety of capitalism within the European Union (2004-08). In Part 1 is abstracted the methodological framework, articulating the macro levels (diversity of socio-economic models or forms of capitalism), the micro level of firms (productive models) and the meso level (industry or sector). Part 2 analyses the main institutional changes occurring in Europe regarding product market regulation, wage-labour relationships and financialisation. Part 3 concludes that the Lisbon process which will not contribute to the emergence of a European model.

The paper analyses how carmakers integrate the Southern America Cone into their worldwide strategies: As a local emerging market? As a source for production and exports towards industrialised countries? As a source for design and export to other emerging markets? The discussion about Mercosur’s place in the carmakers’ internationalisation strategies is developed with specific attention to organisation of their local activities in terms of : product policy (specific product or adapted product) design policy (local adaptation of a global product or local design of a specific product) productive organisation (modular production or the role of suppliers) regional integration (spatial division of labour between countries).

Since 30 years new automotive countries develop in immediate periphery of the large regional blocks as Spain, Mexico, Czech Republic or Turkey. The products assembled in these new spaces are usually very innovative and originate in pioneering process from the organisational point of view. The existence of such organisational innovations in periphery tallies badly with the traditional theories of the international specialization. It is on the other hand more comprehensible if we take the insurancial aspects of manufacturers’ territorial strategies into consideration. Those find in periphery the favourable terms to the radical organisational changes which, by attacking the professional statutes and by scrambling the institutional reference frame of the employees, would clash with the resistance of central factories workforce.

Prepared within the framework of the ESEMK project supported by the EU (FP6, Priority 7, CIT-CT-2004-506077 The European Socio-Economic Models of a Knowledge-based society), this paper discusses the linking between the variety of capitalism and the diversity of organisational forms for firms. This linking is illustrated through the case of the car industry. First part presents the works based on the hypothesis of an institutional isomorphism between the macro-level and the organisation. Second part tries to link analytical grids which integrate the diversity of institutional forms at the macro, meso and micro-levels.

The paper presents the main conclusions of the CoCKEAS European project (Coordinating Competencies and Knowledge in the European Automobile System). It analyses the main changes in the organisation of the European automotive system, not only in the relationships between carmakers and their first tier suppliers, but also in the relations they have with the other actors (upstream and downstream). It discusses the issues associated to the intangible dimension of this industry (financialisation and services), its new geography, and, finally, its distinctivness compared with is competitors (USA and Japan).

The analysis of economic and financial results of Ford of Europe since the creation of this coordination structure in 1967 allows us to distinguish two periods. In a first time, until the end of the eighties, Ford took a strong advantage from the successful integration of its European activities. In a second time, since 1990, the automaker got some reversal of fortune on the old continent. Explanatory factors of that general evolution are searched in the history of the Ford of Europe’s governance, of its products strategies, and of its management of industrial resources from 1967 to 1993. We defend the idea that after the exhaustion of the favourable dynamic of its continental integration, Ford of Europe has been experiencing an identity crisis which was linked to a radical change of its operational context resulting from the globalisation strategies of Ford Motor Company.

International audience; The second automobile revolution, the age of electrification and digitalisation, is on its way. It is a gradual transition and not a sudden break. However, millions of electric vehicles (EVs) are now being sold, and the EV market is becoming a mass market propelled by economies of scale. It is reflected in the drop in the cost of batteries which will bring the price of EVs on a par with the price of conventional vehicles in the coming decade. Nonetheless, two interrelated issues have been underestimated and will now decide who will play a dominant role and benefit the most from the EV market. The first is the relative scarcity of raw materials from which batteries are made. The second is that the primary EV market is China which gives its companies a strategic advantage for the supply of critical metals and the large-scale production of batteries. Our research analyses the fundamental role of natural resources for the control of the EV market and the response of governments to ensure access to them. We show the importance of industrial and diplomatic policies in a context of geostrategic rivalries of large powers.

International audience; This paper seeks to map and discuss the innovation context of Brazil and France, using for this the Innovation Radar’s framework. Fundamentally, it seeks to address the gap between the development of AVs, the differences between two national contexts, and the lack of specific knowledge about how to manage disruptive innovation in countries. The adopted research design was based on a qualitative approach and characterized as exploratory-descriptive. As for the research development, the case study was used as method and questionnaires was used as data sources. The results obtained in Brazil and in France were crossed with official data and statistics as a way to validate the use of the Innovation Radar. France has better metrics in all the dimensions when comparing to Brazil. This is not a surprising outcome, being corroborated by studies and reports that seek to map the macroeconomic, political, and social conditions of these countries. On the other hand, we must ponder the Brazilian importance and influence in international automotive scenario.

International audience

International audience

International audience; Electric vehicle (EV) industry is still in the introduction stage in product life cycle, and dominant design remains unclear. EV companies, both incumbent from the car industry and new comers, have long taken numerous endeavors to promote EV in the niche market by providing innovative products and business models. While most carmakers still take 'business as usual' approach for developing their EV production and offers, Tesla Motors, an EV entrepreneurial firm, stands out by providing disruptive innovation solutions. We review the business model approach in the literature, then classify the innovation dimensions in the EV ecosystem. We study Tesla Motors in terms of: (i) innovation related to the vehicle, (ii) innovation related to the battery (iii) innovation concerning the recharging system, and (iv) innovation toward the EV ecosystem. Lessons for incumbent carmakers for their EV business model design: Tesla Motors 1) holds a product strategy entering from high-end market and moving to mass market, with a high level of innovation adaptation and learning by doing; 2) pays considerable attention to reduce range anxiety by high performance supercharger station network and high capacity battery; 3) shows a very high level of integration of information technology into many aspects of the EV business model, such as advanced in-car services and digital distribute channel; 4) shows a new value configuration which involving in high level of vertical integration towards battery and recharging network. All these lessons of this chapter would be worth the attention of the carmakers if the disruptive choices of Tesla succeed in challenging the dominant design.

International audience

International audience

International audience

http://www.gerpisa.univ-evry.fr/actes/38/38_4.pdf

International audience; Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts' panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Germany in these topics. Special focus will be made in this paper on the topic 2. Public policy and automobile industries, and more specifically on the technological and/or research policies issues, where one can specify the automobile's role in transport policies with further implications like environment, safety, energy, mobility.