Introduction to innovation in the East Asian automotive industry: Exploring the interplay between product architectures, firm strategies, and national innovation systems

Roman Bartnik; Miriam Wilhelm; Takahiro Fujimoto

doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2018.04.002

Introduction to innovation in the East Asian automotive industry: Exploring the interplay between product architectures, firm strategies, and national innovation systems

Roman Bartnik, Miriam Wilhelm^*, Takahiro Fujimoto

^*Corresponding author for this work

Publication: Scientific journal › Journal article › peer-review

Abstract

East Asia is the origin and target market for an increasing number of technological innovations. We use the East Asian automotive industry as a focal point to discuss central questions of innovation research such as modularity, product architecture, and the dynamics of state sponsorship in national innovation systems. Two developments in the East Asian automotive industry are of particular interest to the broader innovation community: 1) East Asian firms and consumers are forerunners in the current transition to energy-efficient innovations and the future of automobiles. These technological developments will lead to a ‘hybridization’ of product architectures that need to be reflected in firm's competitive strategies. 2) Particularly in China, the role of the state for national innovation systems is pronounced in the automotive sector. The way national and regional frameworks interact with broader technology trends shapes business innovation, and this understanding can inform firms in other sectors as well. Before highlighting the contributions of each paper of the special issue, we provide contextual background regarding the unique trajectories of the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean automotive industry, and summarize the current state of research. We conclude with an outlook on future research topics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	Technovation
Volume	70-71
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2018.04.002
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2018
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies (Grant No. 01UC1304 ) is gratefully acknowledged. Furthermore, we would like to thank the Technovation Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Linton and all reviewers for this special issue for their time and dedication. A special thank you also goes to our colleague Sven Horak for his invaluable support and advice throughout the process. Finally, we feel indebted to all participants of the workshop "Innovation in the East-Asian Automotive Industry" at the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies, and Markus Taube and Werner Pascha in particular.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Automotive
East-Asia
Innovation

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Cite this

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title = "Introduction to innovation in the East Asian automotive industry: Exploring the interplay between product architectures, firm strategies, and national innovation systems",

abstract = "East Asia is the origin and target market for an increasing number of technological innovations. We use the East Asian automotive industry as a focal point to discuss central questions of innovation research such as modularity, product architecture, and the dynamics of state sponsorship in national innovation systems. Two developments in the East Asian automotive industry are of particular interest to the broader innovation community: 1) East Asian firms and consumers are forerunners in the current transition to energy-efficient innovations and the future of automobiles. These technological developments will lead to a {\textquoteleft}hybridization{\textquoteright} of product architectures that need to be reflected in firm's competitive strategies. 2) Particularly in China, the role of the state for national innovation systems is pronounced in the automotive sector. The way national and regional frameworks interact with broader technology trends shapes business innovation, and this understanding can inform firms in other sectors as well. Before highlighting the contributions of each paper of the special issue, we provide contextual background regarding the unique trajectories of the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean automotive industry, and summarize the current state of research. We conclude with an outlook on future research topics.",

keywords = "Automotive, East-Asia, Innovation",

author = "Roman Bartnik and Miriam Wilhelm and Takahiro Fujimoto",

note = "Funding Information: Financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies (Grant No. 01UC1304 ) is gratefully acknowledged. Furthermore, we would like to thank the Technovation Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Linton and all reviewers for this special issue for their time and dedication. A special thank you also goes to our colleague Sven Horak for his invaluable support and advice throughout the process. Finally, we feel indebted to all participants of the workshop {"}Innovation in the East-Asian Automotive Industry{"} at the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies, and Markus Taube and Werner Pascha in particular. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier Ltd",

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N1 - Funding Information: Financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies (Grant No. 01UC1304 ) is gratefully acknowledged. Furthermore, we would like to thank the Technovation Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Linton and all reviewers for this special issue for their time and dedication. A special thank you also goes to our colleague Sven Horak for his invaluable support and advice throughout the process. Finally, we feel indebted to all participants of the workshop "Innovation in the East-Asian Automotive Industry" at the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies, and Markus Taube and Werner Pascha in particular. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

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