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Market share objectives are prominent in many industries, especially where managers pay much attention to league table rankings. This paper explores the strategic rationale for giving managers incentives based on market share, motivated by evidence from executive compensation practice in the automotive and investment banking industries. Strategic incentives for market share dominate the well-known sales revenue contracts analyzed in much of the literature, but perhaps surprisingly also lead to less competitive outcomes. The more general lesson is that, when competing in strategic substitutes, players will wish to commit to aggressive conduct, but also make their behaviour less manipulable by rivals.

In 2007, the Norwegian government reformed the vehicle registration tax in order to reduce the carbon intensity of the new car fleet by incentivizing the purchase of more fuel efficient cars. This paper identifies the impact of the new tax structure on three main dimensions: (i) the average CO2 emissions intensity of new registered vehicles, (ii) the relative change in sales between low and high polluting cars and (iii) the market share of diesel cars. A Difference in Difference approach is employed to estimate the short run effects on each outcome variable of interest. The results show that the average CO2 intensity of new vehicles was reduced in the year of the implementation of the reform by about 7.5 g of CO2/km. This reduction is the result of a 12 percentage points drop in the share of highly polluting cars and of an increase of about 20 percentage points in the market share of diesel cars.

Product redesigns happen across virtually all types of products. While there is substantial evidence that new varieties of goods increase welfare, there is little evidence on the effect of product redesigns. We develop a model of redesign and exit decisions in a dynamic oligopoly model (a la Bajari et al (2007)) and use it to analyse redesign activity in the U.S. automobile market. We find that automobile model designs become obsolete quickly in this market, leading to fairly frequent redesigns of models despite an estimated average redesign cost around $1 billion. Our model and estimates show that firm redesign decisions depend crucially on competition for market share through introductions of new redesigns, as well as internal incentives for planned obsolescence of the existing model design. Based on our structural model estimates and the simulated counterfactuals, we find that redesigns lead to large increases in welfare, as well as substantial profit for firms, due to the strong preferences consumers display for new model designs. We also show that welfare would be improved if redesign competition were reduced, allowing redesign activity to be more responsive to the planned obsolescence channel. The net effect of these changes would reduce total redesigns by roughly 10%, increasing total welfare by roughly 3%. While our model and welfare simulations are focused on the new automobile market, we provide some evidence that the gains from redesigns in the new automobile market are an order of magnitude larger than the losses in the secondhand automobile market.

This paper posits that corporate and technological diversification of firms and their relatedness in terms of products and technologies will impact their propensity to form technological alliances. It argues that both higher levels of diversification and greater relatedness signal superior capabilities and available resources to prospective partners that will facilitate exploration and exploitation of technological assets in an alliance. These theoretical conjectures are tested using a dataset of all tire producers worldwide between 1985 and 1996 that combines detailed firm data on establishment, patenting, and alliance activities. The results indicate that complementarity in terms of corporate and technological diversification strategies, as well as partner characteristics (e.g., size, age, and technological capabilities) drive exploitation alliances. Moreover, firms with similar product portfolios are more likely to engage in exploitative interactions. In contrast, exploration alliances exhibit strong partner similarity across all firm characteristics. Both corporate and technological diversification have positive effects on firms’ propensity to engage in exploration, while technological distance has a negative nonlinear one.

Exclusive dealing contracts between manufacturers and retailers force new entrants to set up their own costly dealer networks to enter the market. We ask whether such contracts may act as an entry barrier, and provide an empirical analysis of the European car market. We first estimate a demand model with product and spatial differentiation, and quantify the role of a dense distribution network in explaining the car manufacturers' market shares. We then perform policy counterfactuals to assess the profit incentives and entry-deterring effects of exclusive dealing. We find that there are no individual incentives to maintain exclusive dealing, but there can be a collective incentive by the industry as a whole, even absent efficiencies. Furthermore, a ban on exclusive dealing would shift market shares from the larger European firms to the smaller entrants. More importantly, consumers would gain substantially, mainly because of the increased spatial availability and less so because of intensified price competition. Our findings suggest that the European Commission's recent decision to facilitate exclusive dealing in the car market may not have been warranted.

For a repeated procurement problem, we compare two stylized negotiating cultures which differ in how the buyer uses an entrant to exert pressure on the incumbent resembling U.S. style and Japanese style procurement. In each period, the suppliers are privately informed about their production cost, but only the incumbent can influence the buyer s procurement mechanism choice with a relationship specific investment. The relative performance of the cultures depends non monotonically on the importance of the investment relative to the value of selecting the lowest cost supplier. We use the model to explain stylized facts from the automotive industry.

The automotive industry has always represented an economic engine for many countries. It is dealing with the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of the motor vehicles. Nowadays, this industry is full of intense competition between big auto groups fighting for higher profits and larger market shares. The key players in the automotive market are operating at a global scale in a highly competitive environment. In the last years, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group have proved to be the main competitors. The aim of our paper is to analyze the evolution of the world’s largest automakers in the period 2013-2014. The research type is literature review.

Entrepreneurs’ and regional stakeholder’s capacity to turn knowledge, skills and competencies into sustainable competitive advantage is crucial to a region' economic performance. The article attempts to reveal their synergy by gathering evidence in the particular context of the Romanian automotive industry. Based on primary data collected through structured inter¬views and experiential visits, the research is organized around three investigative themes: (1) entrepreneurs’ approach to and perception on innovation, (2) factors affecting innovation, and (3) networking and knowledge diffusion in the regional productive environment. The findings emphasize the convergent opinion of the regional stakeholders on the vital role innovation plays at the current stage of the industry and the key role entrepreneurs have in stimulating innovation in the regional context. A series of three factors underlay the innovative performance at regional and industry level, namely the presence of an innovation friendly business environment, entrepreneurs’ personality, as well as the external competitive environment.

To what extent have national fiscal policies contributed to the decarbonisation of newly sold passenger cars? We construct a simple model that generates predictions regarding the effect of fiscal policies on average CO2 emissions of new cars, and then test the model empirically. Our empirical strategy combines a diverse series of data. First, we use a large database of vehicle-specific taxes in 15 EU countries over 2001–2010 to construct a measure for the vehicle registration and annual road tax levels, and separately, for the CO2 sensitivity of these taxes. We find that for many countries the fiscal policies have become more sensitive to CO2 emissions of new cars. We then use these constructed measures to estimate the effect of fiscal policies on the CO2 emissions of the new car fleet. The increased CO2-sensitivity of registration taxes have reduced the CO2 emission intensity of the average new car by 1.3 %, partly through an induced increase of the share of diesel-fuelled cars by 6.5 percentage points. Higher fuel taxes lead to the purchase of more fuel efficient cars, but higher diesel fuel taxes also decrease the share of (more fuel efficient) diesel cars; higher annual road taxes have no or an adverse effect.

France, Germany, and Sweden link taxes to passenger vehicles' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rates. Based on new vehicle registration data from 2005 to 2010, we find that CO2 taxes reduce registrations. The effect is larger in France than in either Germany or Sweden, and the French results are robust to alternative estimation models. Compared with those of France, the German results vary somewhat more, and the Swedish estimates are the least robust. We find some evidence that the French tax affected the mix of new vehicles that vehicle manufacturers offered in the French market. (JEL H23, L62, Q54, Q58)

The Philippines pioneered the establishment of automotive assembly in South-east Asia in the 1950s. But Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia lead the region since the 1990s. The foremost reasons for the decline are policy incoherence and unchecked inflows of smuggled cars, which are reflected in the erosion of the domestic automotive components supply base. Japanese assemblers are increasingly sourcing them from abroad through global production networks (GPNs), which have also made the Philippines a global producer of selected auto parts. Institutional support is necessary for the Philippines to take advantage of GPNs to catching up with the leading countries.

China's auto industry also had a golden decade of explosive growth. In 2009, China's auto market has exceeded the United States, the wo rld's largest car market, and in 2013, China's auto production both breaks t hrough twenty million. However, through the presentation of China's auto m arket booming, we should be acutely aware that the status of China's automobile industry in the global automotive industry value chain is still very low, this paper did analysis regarding the current situation, and also Japan, Ger many, America oversea R&D development experience could also a good kn owledge to know, and also the oversea M&A strategy should be considered Meanwhile by analysis Romania experience to learn from each other.

The size of the Romanian automobile industry is relative small compared to the main car producers in Europe and the world, but an analysis of its structure and dynamic appears to be most relevant given the strong linkages with the main macroeconomic indicators and important microeconomic variables at the level of the household.The paper presents a time series analysis for car sales in Romania, in the period 2007-2014, focusing on the sales dynamic of the national main producer– Dacia Pitesti. The aim of the investigation is twofold: to test the impact of macroeconomic variables on this important and underexplored segment of the economy and to emphasize potential differences between the factors influencing the buying decision for domestic versus foreign cars (observed in three regimes: new, registered and reenrolled). While the major influence of the global economic crisis cannot be ignored for the analyzed interval, we believe that it may also help to illustrate the real behaviors of individuals by setting the line between the immediate period after the crisis as treatment under scarcity conditions and the re-installment of normality towards the second half of the time interval. The results are confirming the general findings of the literature for the main indicators but they not entirely consistent with the rational economic models, especially with regard to the nature of the investigated goods (the cars) – normal or positional.

Starting from the fact that nowadays, automotive companies have bigger revenues due to their investments in technology and innovation, as well as hiring high-skilled labor force, the aim of this research is to analyze the Romanian automotive industry from the perspective of intellectual capital and economic performance. After presenting its latest evolution, this paper carries out an analysis made from three different perspectives: human capital, infrastructure assets and market and intellectual property assets. Based on the results, in the last part of this article, a SWOT analysis of intellectual capital on Romanian automotive industry is sketched out.

The present study aims to analyze the functioning of an integrated system comprising the essence of contemporary operations management, namely the methods of process improving in a representative and essential industry. The priorities of local management practices follows subjects such as the savings, efficiency, optimizing the resources usage, remove of dissipation, total quality etc. We analyze the challenges accompanying the efforts of some entrepreneurs to assimilate the principles of improving and to acquiring the lean organization status. This work deals with the processes improvements, respectively the applying of lean manufacturing tools and principles within the automotive industry in Craiova and in adjacent area. The immediate utility of the processes improvement principles comes from their contribution to profit growth (cost reduction) and also to improve the competitive position. The research is a directed investigation on the optimization programs and processes applied by a dozen of organizations working around the great producer operating in or near Craiova, and by analyzing the directions promoted on their own or under the coordination of the driver-company. The implementation of process improvements principles at Ford's supplier’s network is one of the biggest objectives. The conclusions highlight the intentions and the achievements smoothing the philosophy of continuous improvement processes, the incumbent potential of these initiatives to eliminate the waste, but also some failures.

This article examines the development of China's automotive industry. The evidence shows that integration in global production networks has stimulated upgrading of technological capabilities among automotive firms. However, the competitiveness and intra-industry analyses show mixed results. Although intra-industry trade in automotive products has improved since 2000, the trade competitiveness of completely built-up vehicles has largely remained in low value-added activities. Nevertheless, firm-level evidence shows that the industry has undergone considerable upgrading, albeit in low value-added activities. Trade integration and host-country institutional support have been the prime driving forces of technological upgrading in the automotive industry in China.

This article examines the transformation of clothing manufacturing in China with a focus on institutional support, technological upgrading and global production chains. Evidence shows that reforms and integration into global production chains have rapidly expanded China's exports but these have also driven the relocation abroad of Chinese clothing firms. Global integration has motivated clothing firms to upgrade through learning, adoption and innovation. Hence, despite improvements in technological capabilities the share of clothing value-added in manufacturing has gradually declined. Also, China has increasingly faced industrial structural change from clothing to the capital goods, real estate and high-tech sectors.

This article examines the relationship between host-site institutional support and regional trade linkages on firm-level technological capabilities in the semiconductor industry in Malaysia. An evolutionary perspective was used to measure technological capabilities using knowledge embodied in machinery, organization, processes and products. The results show that host-site institutional support, and regional trade linkages were correlated with technological upgrading. The relationship between host-site institutional support and technological upgrading was stronger than that between regional trade linkages and technological upgrading. The results show that host site institutional support is more important than regional integration in influencing firms’ capacity to upgrade their technological capabilities.

This article examines the relationships between host-site institutional support and firm-level technological upgrading, and between technological upgrading and domestic production linkages in the semiconductor industry in Singapore. An evolutionary perspective was used to measure technological capabilities using knowledge embodied in machinery, organization, processes and products. The results show that host-site institutional support is important for technological upgrading, and technological capabilities are positively correlated with domestic linkages. Also, domestic linkages rather than regional linkages were correlated with technological upgrading, which is a consequence of Singapore's sophisticated infrastructure compared to its neighbours in South-east Asia.

This article examines the relationship between institutional support and regional production linkages, and technological capabilities and firm performance in the garment industry in Laos. The evidence shows that garment firms in Laos have achieved considerable technological upgrading, and that firm performance and technological capabilities are determined by export-intensity. Firms’ technological capabilities are determined by the quality of host-site institutional support, while foreign firms have invested little to upgrade human capital in Laos. In addition, firms of all ownership structure have invested little in R&D in Laos.

This study analyses the influence of host-site institutional support, foreign ownership and regional production linkages on firm-level technological capabilities using data from automotive firms in Indonesia. The results show that host-site institutional support and foreign ownership are positively correlated with technological capabilities. In addition, regional linkages show a significant and positive link on technological capabilities. However, regional linkages and foreign ownership explain more strongly technological capabilities than host-site institutional support in automotive firms in Indonesia. This evidence suggests that the supporting high tech environment require further strengthening to stimulate higher technological capabilities in the automotive industry in Indonesia.

It is often asserted that consumers undervalue future gasoline costs relative to purchase prices when they choose between automobiles, or equivalently that they have high "implied discount rates" for these future energy costs. We show how this can be tested by measuring whether relative prices of vehicles with different fuel economy ratings fully adjust to time series variation in gasoline price forecasts. We then test the model using a detailed dataset based on 86 million transactions at auto dealerships and wholesale auctions between 1999 and 2008. Over our base sample, vehicle prices move as if consumers are indifferent between one dollar in discounted future gas costs and only 76 cents in vehicle purchase price. We document how endogenous market shares and utilization, measurement error, and different gasoline price forecasts can affect the results, and we show how to address these issues empirically. We also provide unique empirical evidence of sticky information: vehicle markets respond to changes in gasoline prices with up to a six month delay.

In transportation systems with unpriced congestion, allowing single-occupant low-emission vehicles in high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to encourage their adoption exacerbates congestion costs for carpoolers. The resulting welfare effects of the policy are negative, with environmental benefits overwhelmingly dominated by the increased congestion costs. Exploiting the introduction of the Clean Air Vehicle Stickers policy in California with a regression discontinuity design, our results imply a best-case cost of $124 per ton of reductions in greenhouse gases, $606,000 per ton of nitrogen oxides reduction, and $505,000 per ton of hydrocarbon reduction, exceeding those of other options readily available to policymakers. (JEL D62, L51, L62, Q51, Q54, R41, R48)

We analyze optimal policy when consumers of energy-using durables undervalue energy costs relative to their private optima. First, there is an Internality Dividend from Externality Taxes: aside from reducing externalities, they also offset distortions from underinvestment in energy efficiency. Discrete choice simulations of the auto market suggest that the Internality Dividend could more than double the social welfare gains from a carbon tax at marginal damages. Second, we develop the Internality Targeting Principle: the optimal combination of multiple instruments depends on the average internality of the consumers marginal to each instrument. Because consumers who undervalue energy costs are mechanically less responsive to energy taxes, the optimal policy will tend to involve an energy tax below marginal damages coupled with a larger subsidy for energy efficient products. Third, although the exact optimal policy depends on joint distributions of unobservables which would be difficult to estimate, we develop formulas to closely approximate optimal policy and welfare effects based on reduced form “sufficient statistics” that can be estimated by using field experiments or quasi-experimental variation in product prices and energy costs.

This paper explores the nature of fluctuations in world bulk shipping by quantifying the impact of time to build and demand uncertainty on investment and prices. We examine the impact of both construction lags and their lengthening in periods of high investment activity, by constructing a dynamic model of ship entry and exit. A rich dataset of secondhand ship sales allows for a new estimation strategy: resale prices provide direct information on value functions and allow their nonparametric estimation. We find that moving from time-varying to constant to no time to build reduces prices, while significantly increasing both the level and volatility of investment. (JEL G31, L11, L62, L92)

This paper explores the effects of consumption-tax and fuel-tax adjustments in the Chinese automobile industry. Applying the model and simulation method of Berry, Levinson, and Pakes (1995), we conduct a comparative static analysis of equilibrium prices and sales, fuel consumption, and social welfare before and after tax adjustments. For the first time, we compare the progressivity of both taxes. Our empirical findings suggest that the fuel tax is effective in decreasing fuel consumption at the expense of social welfare, while the consumption tax does not significantly affect either fuel consumption or social welfare. © 2014 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In seinem Beitrag zeigt Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Universität Duisburg-Essen, dass die Premiumbranche den Autostandort Deutschland stabilisiert. Das weltweite Premiumgeschäft ist die Domäne der deutschen Autokonzerne. Neue Impulse, wie etwa die Kategorie kleiner Premiumfahrzeuge, haben dem Segment einen weiteren Wachstumsschub gegeben. Auch in den nächsten Jahren werden die deutschen Autobauer ihre Vormachtstellung im weltweiten Premiumautogeschäft mit Erfolg behaupten können. Einziger Wehmutstropfen scheinen die Elektromobilität und Innovatoren wie das US-Unternehmen Tesla zu sein, das auf dem Premiummarkt weiter nach vorne drängt.

Die Automobilindustrie zählt zu den größten deutschen Industriegruppen und ist in Deutschland seit Mitte des letzten Jahrzehnts nur leicht überdurchschnittlich gewachsen. Die Inlandfertigung ist von 2005 bis 2013 insgesamt nur um 2,5% gestiegen, während sich die Stückzahlen im Ausland mehr als verdoppelt haben.

El objetivo del artículo es conocer en las empresas localizadas en Cataluña, proveedoras de los OEM, el grado de implantación individual y conjunta de ciertas prácticas laborales de los modelos de la producción ajustada y la producción reflexiva. Se presentan los resultados de una encuesta, analizando ítems sobre el grado de autonomía del operario, la delegación de trabajo indirecto, características de los puestos de trabajo, modalidades de remuneración variable, incorporación del trabajo en equipo y ciertos sistemas de participación. Se analiza si hay diferencias significativas en la mediana de los ítems al segmentar por la nacionalidad del capital y el grado de implementación del JIT y del trabajo en equipo. Se verifica un escaso rediseño del trabajo, elevada utilización individual de algunas prácticas de la producción ajustada, más intensas en las de capital extranjero. Falta una mayor integración en la mayoría de empresas. Se obtiene una tipología con 7 grupos de empresas. / The aim of this paper is to determine the degree of implementation of certain work practices of reflexive production and lean production, individually and jointly, in Catalonia direct suppliers firms of OEM. We present the results of a survey, which examines various items about the degree of work autonomy and indirect labor delegation to the operator, characteristics of jobs, wage compensations, if teamwork and certain participation systems are implemented. We analyze whether there are significant differences in the median of the items by segmenting the nationality of capital, degree of implementation of JIT and teamwork. It is verified a small job redesign, as well an important individual use of some practices of lean production, more intensely on foreign capital firms. Lack greater integration in most firms, so there should be more joint implementation. It identifies a typology with seven groups of firms.

A full understanding of how gasoline prices affect consumer behavior frequently requires information on how consumers forecast future gasoline prices. We provide the first evidence on the nature of these forecasts by analyzing two decades of data on gasoline price expectations from the Michigan Survey of Consumers. We find that average consumer beliefs are typically indistinguishable from a no-change forecast, justifying an assumption commonly made in the literature on consumer valuation of energy efficiency. We also provide evidence on circumstances in which consumer forecasts are likely to deviate from no-change and on significant cross-consumer forecast heterogeneity.

There is recent evidence that consumers’beliefs about product attributes in some settings are systematically biased away from their true values. This question is especially important in the automobile industry, where some analysts have argued for fuel economy standards and information disclosure because consumers systematically misperceive the …nancial value of fuel economy. This analysis exploits new data from the Vehicle Ownership and Alternatives Survey, a nationally-representative 2100-person dataset that elicits beliefs over the …nancial bene…ts and costs of owning higher- and lower-fuel economy vehicles. The data suggest that consumers correctly estimate or slightly underestimate the value of fuel economy. Also, there is robust empirical evidence of the "MPG Illusion" consistent with Larrick and Soll (2008): consumers intuitively perceive that fuel costs scale linearly in miles per gallon (MPG) instead of gallons per

Fuel economy standards change the composition of the vehicle fleet, potentially influencing accident safety. I introduce a model of the fleet that captures risks across interactions between vehicle types while simultaneously recovering estimates of unobserved driving safety behavior. The model importantly includes the ability to consider the selection of driver types across vehicles. I apply the model to the present structure of U.S. fuel economy standards and find an adverse effect on safety: Each MPG increment to the standard results in an additional 149 fatalities per year in expectation. I next show how two alternative regulatory provisions, including one slated to enter effect next year, can fully offset the negative safety consequences; minor changes in the regulation produce a robust, near-zero change in accident fatalities while conserving the same quantity of gasoline.

This paper employs an empirically estimated model to study the equilibrium effects of an increase in the US corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. I identify and model heterogeneity across firms and find that the profit impacts of CAFE fall almost entirely on domestic producers. The welfare analyses consider the simultaneous household decision of vehicle and miles traveled, allowing direct comparison with a gasoline tax. Finally, I consider dynamic impacts in the used car market. I find these comprise nearly half the gross welfare cost of CAFE and fall disproportionately on low-income households. Contrary to previous results, the overall welfare costs are regressive. (JEL H24, L51, L62)

This paper evaluates product efficiency in the Spanish automobile market. We use non parametric frontier techniques in order to estimate product efficiency scores for each model. These scores reflect the minimum price for which each car could be sold, given the bundle of tangible features it offers in comparison to the best-buy models. Unlike previous research, we use discounted prices which have been adjusted by car dealerships to meet sale targets. Therefore, we interpret the efficiency scores as indicators of the value of the intangible features of the brand. The results show that Audi, Volvo, Volkswagen and Mercedes offer the greatest intangible value, since they are heavily overpriced in terms of price/product ratios. Conversely, Seat, Kia, Renault and Dacia are the brands that can be taken as referent in terms of price/product ratios. / Este artículo analiza la eficiencia de producto en el mercado español del automóvil, utilizando para ello métodos de frontera no paramétricos. Los índices de eficiencia de producto indican el precio mínimo a que cada automóvil podría venderse, dado el conjunto de atributos tangibles que ofrece en comparación con las mejores compras. A diferencia de investigaciones previas, se utilizan los precios ajustados que incluyen los descuentos hechos por los concesionarios para poder alcanzar los objetivos de ventas. Esto permite interpretar los índices de eficiencia como un indicador del valor de las características intangibles de cada modelo. Los resultados muestran que son Audi, Volvo, Volkswagen y Mercedes las marcas que ofrecen un mayor valor intangible, dado que sus modelos tienen una relación precio/producto muy desfavorable. Por el contrario, Seat, Kia, Renault y Dacia son las marcas que pueden tomarse como referencia en términos de su relación precio/producto.

We investigate whether car buyers are myopic about future fuel costs. We estimate the effect of gasoline prices on short-run equilibrium prices of cars of different fuel economies. We then compare the implied changes in willingness-to-pay to the associated changes in expected future gasoline costs for cars of different fuel economies in order to calculate implicit discount rates. Using different assumptions about annual mileage, survival rates, and demand elasticities, we calculate a range of implicit discount rates similar to the range of interest rates paid by car buyers who borrow. We interpret this as showing little evidence of consumer myopia. (JEL D12, H25, L11, L62, L71, L81)

The elegance contests of the ancient car holders are usually attracting a large number of car lovers and a great audience eager to admire the masterpieces of car builders of all time. The Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens. had always expressed its willing to cultivate public interest for historical vehicles all around the world. All elegance contest proved to be true social events and are sometimes a place where you can meet local personalities and even may notice fashion trends. Let us find out why our jewels have wheels.

The shipbuilding industry plays an active part in the fleet adjustment process becoming an important factor determining the supply of sea transport. Merchant ships generally take about a year to build and delivery may take 2–3 years if the shipyards are busy. This prevents the market from responding promptly to any sudden upsurge in demand. Shipbuilding market would face a difficult period of decreasing new order and worsening profitability after financial crisis in 2008. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of current status and what were the effects of the current crisis over shipbuilding market. In the end we highlight the market expectations for shipbuilding industry based on world economy forecasts.

In seinem Kommentar setzt sich Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Universität Duisburg-Essen, mit den Elektromobilitätsprojekten der Bundesregierung – den sogenannten »Schaufenstern« für Elektromobilität – auseinander. Deutschland sollte nach dem Regierungsprogramm zum »Leitmarkt für Elektromobilität« entwickelt werden. Nach Ansicht von Dudenhöffer sieht die Bilanz der »Schaufenster« dünn aus, und die Verkäufe von Elektroautos sind mit 0,15% Marktanteil in Deutschland mehr als gering.

Transportation is one of the main aspect of logistics development in Poland, even if this is due to the fact that the costs for transportation are from 25% to 40% of total costs in the total cost of logistics. This causes that it is transportation, in addition to procurement processes, production, storage and distribution is the most important process within the logistics supply chain. This article on production and transport being the type used in the Polish logistics, presented as in the period 2009-2011 was as its dynamics and development.

In the paper various forms of organizational consulting are presented. Some of them introduce valuable knowledge and skills to organizations. Others are also the source of technology, products and capital. Sometimes, the organizations become dependent on the consulting agencies. In some cases, companies that benefit from consulting services are no longer separate or lose their identity. In addition, the development of automotive companies are presented in the article. Consulting services are conducted right if, among others, the staff is well-qualified, technical infrastructure is monitored and the management of the company is able to predict the changes in business surroundings.

We investigate how the general principles of the Treaty have been applied to the car sector in the EU, given the specific soft law provisions which are typical of the sector. A detailed quantitative analysis from 1990 to 2008 highlights a reduction of aid over time. A shift from sectoral to Òregional developmentÓ motives in granting aid to the sector is also observed in the last ten years. However, sector specific aid is now less explicit but it remains important. Large amounts of public money are spent without a consistent strategy, reducing capacity in some cases, expanding it in others. The scarcity of public funds calls for a more focussed European policy for this industry.

In the economy of any country, the auto parts manufacturing sector holds an important percentage in the national automotive industry. The dynamics of sales within it can vary significantly on short term, depending on the automotive market trend. This is also the case of the current situation in Romania, where the effect of the regressive automotive sales evolution will propagate, most probably, with a significant delay for the companies involved in production and trade of auto parts (for both first-assembly manufacture and car maintenance and repair). The statistical data indicate that even though the total volume of vehicles delivered decreased with 7.4% in 2011 as compared to 2010, the total turnover of the companies in the automotive industry increased with 7.8%. The apparent paradox is explained in the present article through the particularities of the demand for spare parts intended for the rolling stock in operation and through the effective organization of the distribution system.

Bircok calismada isletme stratejisi formulasyonuna uretim perspektifinin dahil edilmesinin onemine vurgu yapilmaktadir. Bu alanda, cogunlukla uretim fonksiyonunun (yoneticilerinin) katilimi uzerinde durulurken, goreceli olarak daha az oranda uretim yoneticilerinin bu katilimlarinin etki duzeyi uzerinde durulmustur. Bu calismada daha iyi bir isletme performansina ulasmada uretim yoneticilerinin bu surece katilimi ve etkilerinin rolu incelenmistir. Yapilan yazin taramasina dayali olarak bu iki degiskenin isletme performansi uzerindeki etkilerinin isletme ve uretim stratejileri arasindaki uyuma dayali olarak ortaya ciktigi dusunulmektedir. Bu baglamda yazin dogrultusun-da ortaya konan model test edilmistir. Arastirma kapsaminda-ki isletmelerde; isletme performansi ile stratejik uyum, uretim yoneticilerinin katilimi ve etkisi kriterleri arasinda orta duzeyde stratejik uyum ve uretim yoneticisi etkisi ile uretim yoneticisinin etkisi ve katilimi arasinda yuksek duzeyde iliskinin oldugu tespit edilmistir. Stratejik uyumun uretim yoneticisi katilimi ile uretim yoneticisi etkisinin isletme performansina etkisinde aracilik etkisini aciklamak amaciyla gerceklestirilen uc asamali regresyon analizine dayali olarak; stratejik uyum degiskeninin, uretim yoneticisi katilimi ve etkisinin isletme performansi uzerinde aracilik rolu ustlendigi belirlenmistir.

The year when the automobile appear, 1885, changed irreversibly the world, revolutionizing the people lifestyle. This creation anticipated new industrial domains, stimulated the massive employments, and eroded the "class struggle" offering the opportunity to travel also to those without financial possibilities, offering the pleasure of hobby to thousands of people. These considerations coupled with the fact that the automotive industry in Romania is one of the industries with the highest value added, made us choose this industry for our study. The paper aims to make a presentation of the characteristics and evolution of the automotive industry in Romania, also proposing an econometric model through which to be able to predict its evolution.

Cieľom príspevku je analýza slovenského automobilového priemyslu, ktorý je takmer celý vybudovaný prostredníctvom priamych zahraničných investícií a ktorý patrí k hlavným hybným silám slovenskej ekonomiky. V prvej časti príspevku identifikujeme ekonomické postavenie daného odvetvia, jeho ekonomickú výkonnosť v rámci priemyslu a taktiež jeho vplyv na zamestnanosť. V druhej časti sa príspevok zaoberá analýzou jednotlivých subjektov v odvetví – automobilkami operujúcimi v SR a ich dodávateľskou a subdodávateľskou štruktúrou, ako aj historickým zázemím skúmaného sektora. V ďalšej časti identifikujeme prílev priamych zahraničných investícií do automobilového priemyslu v súvislosti s vývojom produktivity práce v SR a v poslednej časti objasňujeme možné výskyty technologických efektov spillovers v slovenskom automobilovom priemysle v prospech domácich spoločností.

The state, local administration, corporations (private/ joint ventures/ multinational corporations), banks and syndicates represent the most important actors in urban management. Following the financial crisis, governments seek to attract and maintain high-growth firms that will fuel job growth after the recession. Still a lot of governments have failed in their roles to assure a sustainable level of foreign direct investments, to boost venture capital and entrepreneurship. The main reasons for this failure are the poor expertise and lack of understanding for the financing process, the incapacity or unwillingness to assure a competitive economic environment for entrepreneurs and the lack of interest to create attractive conditions for foreign investors. An important key to success is also the legal framework and the institutional process, which creates the reputation of a market in terms of transparency of information and flexibility for business development. In this paper I investigated the importance of corporations, entrepreneurs and legal framework in order to create urban growth. I also analyzed the case of Dacia Pitesti plant and the positive effects that the automotive activity has for the Romanian economy, local employment, staff skills and technical competences development, local suppliers and entrepreneur’s growth.

Este artículo expone teóricamente por qué las empresas colaboran al realizar su I+D y lo hacen con diversos agentes externos. A partir de una muestra de proveedores directos de los fabricantes, ubicados en Cataluña, se ha analizado si hacen innovación de productos, las fases de investigación, diseño y desarrollo y si colaboran con agentes externos al realizar su I+D, diferenciando según el tamaño empresarial. Se verifica que las grandes empresas son las que lo realizan en mayor proporción; en cambio, las pequeñas son las que menos. Un muy reducido número de empresas colaboran con todos los agentes externos considerados, y todas son grandes empresas. / This article discusses theoretically why companies cooperate in carrying out their R&D, and doing so with several external agents. From a sample of original equipment manufacturers suppliers (OEMS) located in Catalonia, we checked if they incorporated products innovation, research, design, product development phases, and if they collaborated with external agents in doing their R&D, differentiated by property capital (domestic versus foreign) and company size. It was shown that large companies are those who performed R&D in greater proportion, however, and the smaller ones the least. A very small number of firms cooperate with the external agents considered, and they are all large companies.

Can heuristic information processing affect important product markets? We explore whether the tendency to focus on the left-most digit of a number affects how used car buyers incorporate odometer values in their purchase decisions. Analyzing over 22 million wholesale used-car transactions, we find substantial evidence of this left-digit bias; there are large and discontinuous drops in sale prices at 10,000-mile thresholds in odometer mileage, along with smaller drops at 1,000-mile thresholds. We obtain estimates for the inattention parameter in a simple model of this left-digit bias. We also investigate whether this heuristic behavior is primarily attributable to the final used-car customers or the used-car salesmen who buy cars in the wholesale market. The evidence is most consistent with partial inattention by final customers. We discuss the significance of these results for the literature on inattention and point to other market settings where this type of heuristic thinking may be important. Our results suggest that information-processing heuristics may be important even in markets with large stakes and where information is easy to observe.

We would like to thank Philipp Schwarz and Julia Gückel for their dedicated support in preparing this paper and our colleagues and students of the School of Engineering and the Business School for our fruitful discussions. Four categories of innovations have been identified by Freeman and Perez: incremental innovations, radical innovations, new technological systems (systemic innovations), and technological revolutions or new techno-economic paradigms. New techno-economic paradigms represent changes in technological systems that are so far-reaching in their effects that they have a major influence on the behaviour of the entire economy. Scarcity of oil and external costs like global warming are the key arguments and the main drivers of the change of the current paradigm. They will affect especially the mobility of individuals and the interlinked business models. Novel business models within newly created markets will raise e.g. extended mobility services, activities aiming at the infrastructure, new opportunities in the field of energy transmission and supply and even new strategies of recycling, reusing or reducing the use of resources in order to address global scarcity issues. Especially for the established players of the automotive industry like original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or 1st and 2nd tier suppliers this implicates opportunities and risks at the same time. But also new players will get the chance to create and enter new markets with new or extended products or services and lead the new value chain. This paper compiles and evaluates current approaches and business models of selected OEMs together with upcoming players. Additionally their positions within the existing value chain are being analyzed and classified. Bringing together the identified drivers of changes with current trends within the automotive industry the authors also show new concepts of extended business models, e.g. the idea of an ecosystem, that have the potential to cause an additional shift of power within the global mobility value chain.

In ihrem Kommentar weisen Ferdinand Dudenhöffer und Wolfgang Schneider, CAR-Center Automotive Research an der Universität Duisburg-Essen, auf den Wettbewerbsvorsprung der USA beim »automatisiertes Fahren« hin. Die branchenspezifischen Voraussetzungen, um in Deutschland beim neuen Markt für individuelle Mobilität einen komparativen Wettbewerbsvorteil aufzubauen, sind vorhanden, die Hindernisse liegen im Rechtsbereich.