2024/07/10 by Angela Garcia Calvo, Angela García Calvo · 4 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Asian Industrial and Economic Development #Automotive industry #Business #Economic geography #Economic system #Economics #Embeddedness #Engineering #Firm Innovation and Growth #Global trade and economics #Industrial organization #Lead (geology) #Position (finance) #Production (economics) #Telecommunications #Transition (genetics) #Turnkey
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s12116-024-09436-0
published in Studies in Comparative International Development 59(4), 690-711 (Springer Science+Business Media)
openalex publication_date 2024/07/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract What determines the ability of firms based in New Advanced Economies to generate innovation in the transition to electric vehicles (EVs)? Under what conditions are they more likely to break with their established pattern as fast followers to create innovation that is new to the world? To address these questions, we introduce a meso-level framework focused on the organization of global production networks. The framework examines three aspects of such networks: the position of the firm within the network, the number of lead firms, and the links between lead firms and suppliers. We illustrate the explanatory power of our framework through the cases of South Korea and Spain, the two New Advanced Economies with the largest automotive sectors. We characterize Korea’s production network as a unipolar, captive structure and Spain’s as part of an EU-wide multipolar, modular production network. We argue that contrary to common perceptions, Korea’s structure delayed the transition to EV’s and strengthened Korea’s role as a fast follower. Meanwhile, Spain’s embeddedness in the EU production network offered significant opportunities for turnkey suppliers to generate novel innovation despite the absence of a domestic lead firm.