How does participation in GVCs affect the level of autonomy of suppliers in the automotive industry? A thematic analysis of interviews with suppliers in the automotive industry

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating how participation in GVC’s affect the level of autonomy of suppliers in the automotive industry. Companies' international value chains are arguably more interconnected than ever before. Significant attention has been given to the control and impact that large MNEs have over GVCs, yet how suppliers and smaller companies are impacted by their position in the value chain remains somewhat unexplored. While previous studies have focused mainly on how supplier autonomy affects the GVC, as well as analyzing firms through the eyes of the resource-based view highlighting the significance of resource uniqueness efficiency, and value creation, this paper adopts a different view. By emphasizing how suppliers are affected by their position in a GVC, a “the other way around” logic was employed allowing new perspectives to emerge. To conduct this research, a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was used with nine representatives from different suppliers in the automotive industry, followed by a thematic analysis. The main finding was that it is challenging for suppliers to be autonomous in the industry as they are often deeply integrated into the large customers’ value chain. With activities such as co-innovation, the interdependence grows strong, also pointing at MNEs actually being largely dependent on the suppliers. The findings also highlight that the assumptions of the RBV does not seem to be that significant in the context as capabilities and resources do not affect the autonomy to the same extent as the suppliers’ position in the value chain.