The Impact of Focused Globalisation in the Italian Automotive Industry<sup>1</sup>

Balcet, Giovanni; Enrietti, Aldo

doi:10.1177/02601079x02001300106

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Technical divisions got the promise of help from suppliers then investing heavily in their own technical infrastructure. Subsidiaries-then just foothold facilities in Poland, Argentina, and Brazil-got new investment in assembly facilities and promises of local R&D facilities going forward (Balcet & Enrietti, 2002). And while there was some opposition from unions, there was no real dispute that the company needed to get more competitive (Negrelli, 2004).…”

Section: A First Narrative Moment: Frame Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

Whitford

Zirpoli

2016

Organization Studies

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The article uses a qualitative case study of fifteen years in the production network that revolves about Fiat Auto to depict the “network firm” as a political coalition. It used a discussion of radical outsourcing of production in the 1990s, a short-lived and ill-fated alliance with General Motors in 2001, a descent to the brink of bankruptcy in 2004, a return to profitability by 2007, and, finally, the sudden acquisition of control of Chrysler in 2009 to reconstruct James March’s classic Carnegie model of the firm in light of the blurring of organizational boundaries. Using concepts drawn from the literatures on organizational networks, social movements, and organizational politics, it demonstrates that strategic decision making at Fiat and at key suppliers shaped, and were shaped by, an interplay of frames and relational embedding within and across organizational boundaries. It therefore builds theory by showing how coalitional politics shape and are shaped by the shifting boundaries of the firm, and by showing how those coalitional politics affect the evolution of the production networks that prevail across many contemporary industries

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Section: A First Narrative Moment: Frame Divergencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

Whitford

Zirpoli

2016

Organization Studies

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“…In the 1990s, FIAT Auto created a regional industrial pole in Poland and extended its presence in Argentina and Brazil. As a result, with increasing volumes of production being provided by its foreign factories, the production of automobiles in Italy fell from roughly 91% of the total in 1989 to 64% in 1999 (Balcet and Enrietti, 2002) while in 2006 it accounted for 55% of global production. In addition to the increasing importance of the phenomenon of internationalisation of production, Italian sites of production shrank even further at the beginning of the 21 st century, following the acceleration of the FIAT Auto crisis and severe loss of market share in domestic and international markets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internationalisation and the Agglomeration Effect: Evidence from the Italian Automotive Supply Chain

Bacchiocchi

Florio

Giunta³

2010

SSRN Journal

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We study the internationalisation process in a representative sample of 786 firms in the Italian automotive supply chain. Most of these firms have agglomerated in the Turin industrial district, the cradle of FIAT, the dominant Italian car-maker and one of the global player in the automotive industry. Both FIAT and its suppliers have experienced a substantial process of internationalisation. Our main research question is straightforward: is the internationalisation process of the Italian firms in the automotive supply chain driven by the off-shoring of FIAT activities, or is it a relatively independent process, driven by the cumulated effect of agglomeration in a Marshallian-type urban district? We build an Internationalisation Strategy Index, that discriminates between firms that do not export at all, or that export without owning structured sale or production organisations abroad, or that possess such organisations. After controlling for firms' characteristics, and building three simple agglomeration indicators, we perform a multinomial logit micro-econometric analysis. We find that there is an agglomeration impact on firms' internationalisation, independent from the vertical linkages between suppliers and their main customer FIAT. In fact, dependency from sales to FIAT decreases the probability of internationalisation, while being located in a high-density industrial district has the opposite effect. This result points to a positive impact of agglomeration per se, particularly in a urban context, and rejects the alternative view that internationalisation of firms in the supply chain is driven by the core firm in the "hub-and-spoke" district.

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“…In a first stage, the joint venture Tofa followed a typical domestic market oriented and product-life-cycle approach, transferring mature technologies and machinery, to serve the local protected market with obsolete models (Balcet and Enrietti, 2002). Since the new century, after the opening of the domestic market and its full integration with the European market, Turkish facilities have been mainly specialised to produce light commercial vehicles to be exported to the EU: it is the case of the Doblò and Qubo models.…”

Section: Growing Through Multinational Strategies In Emerging Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It reached good performances with Uno Mille and later with the New Uno models, specially designed for the South American market. Brazil was the only country where the Fiat's world car project, based on Palio and Siena models, had a good success, while results were poor in other developing and emerging countries (Balcet and Enrietti, 2002). In the early 2000s the platform of these models moved from Turin to Betim (Belo Horizonte), where the most important Fiat's Engineering and Product Development Centre outside Italy is located.…”

Section: Growing Through Multinational Strategies In Emerging Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structuring and restructuring Fiat-Chrysler: can two weak carmakers jointly survive in the new automotive arena?

Balcet

Commisso

Calabrese

2013

IJATM

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Abstract:In the automotive and, more generally, in the industrial arena Fiat Group Automobiles (Fiat) and Chrysler Group LLC (Chrysler) can be considered two permanent case studies. In particular, now that they are joining their trajectories. Both companies have gone through many crises, long histories and strong company cultures. In particular, Chrysler in the last 15 years has been characterised by three acquisitions/mergers; each can be considered a good research field. The paper describes the trends occurred by Fiat and Chrysler before the alliance and the targets to make Fiat-Chrysler a viable carmaker.

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The Impact of Focused Globalisation in the Italian Automotive Industry¹

Cited by 17 publications

References 4 publications

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

Internationalisation and the Agglomeration Effect: Evidence from the Italian Automotive Supply Chain

Structuring and restructuring Fiat-Chrysler: can two weak carmakers jointly survive in the new automotive arena?

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The Impact of Focused Globalisation in the Italian Automotive Industry1

Cited by 17 publications

References 4 publications

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

The Network Firm as a Political Coalition

Internationalisation and the Agglomeration Effect: Evidence from the Italian Automotive Supply Chain

Structuring and restructuring Fiat-Chrysler: can two weak carmakers jointly survive in the new automotive arena?

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Product

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The Impact of Focused Globalisation in the Italian Automotive Industry¹