Project summary

The global automotive industry has experienced major changes since the early 1990s, including profound changes in its geography of production. The vehicle output has increasingly shifted from traditional auto industry countries located in North America and Western Europe to less developed countries in search of new markets and lower production costs. The goal of this research project is to analyze the development of the automotive industry in less developed countries and its regional economic effects. It will combine quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. A prospective Ph.D. student will work on a selected macro-region or a country in the less developed world that has a globally o regionally significant automotive industry. S/he will analyze both statistical sources and other available information and conduct field research, which will include interviews with key informants in selected domestic and foreign-owned vehicle makers and their suppliers, as well as in relevant institutions, such as ministries, regional bodies, industry associations and think tanks. Economic geographers from countries and regions with a significant automotive industry in less developed countries are especially encouraged to apply.

Selected publications of the research group

  • Pavlínek, P. (2019) Restructuring and internationalization of the European automotive industry. Journal of Economic Geography. DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lby070.
  • Pavlínek, P. (2018) Global production networks, foreign direct investment, and supplier linkages in the integrated peripheries of the automotive industry. Economic Geography, Vol. 94, No. 2, pp. 141-165. DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2017.1393313.
  • Pavlínek, P. (2016) Whose success? The state-foreign capital nexus and the development of the automotive industry in Slovakia. European Urban and Regional Studies. Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 571-593. DOI: 10.1177/0969776414557965.
  • Pavlínek, P. and J. Ženka (2016) Value creation and value capture in the automotive industry: Empirical evidence from Czechia. Environment and Planning A, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 937-959. DOI: 10.1177/0308518X15619934.
  • Pavlínek, P. and P. Žížalová (2016) Linkages and spillovers in global production networks: Firm-level analysis of the Czech automotive industry. Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 331-363. DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lbu041.

Current research projects of the group

  • Changes in the spatial division of labor in the European automotive industry (GAČR)
  • The specifics of evolutionary trajectories of Central European regions: comprehending the key drivers and processes on the case of Czechia (GAČR)
  • The articulation of firms into global production networks: regional and sectoral analysis of firms in Czechia (GAČR)
  • In the core or periphery? The effects of changing borders on the socio-economic development of Czech border regions from the institutional perspective (GAČR)
Deadline is closed

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