From fuel cell cars to 'frugal innovations' adapted to the Chinese market
- is the focus of automotive innovation shifting to East Asia?
** Reminder: Technovation Special Issue & Workshop **
** Innovation in the East Asian Automotive Industry **
** Deadline for Abstracts = 15 Feb
**
We invite you to contribute to our
Technovation Special Issue and joint workshop with scholars and automotive managers on
Innovation in the East-Asian Automotive Industry on June 19-20.
A keynote speech on the central theme will be given by fellow guest editor Prof. T. Fujimoto (Tokyo University).
We want to discuss how local and foreign firms in the automotive sector generate innovation in East Asia and how East Asian automotive firms innovate abroad.
Please find the full Call for Papers here and a list of questions below:
http://www.uni-due.de/in-east/fileadmin/news/Full_size/CfP_-_Innovation_in_the_EA_Automotive_Industry_-_June_19-20-2015.pdf
Do not hesitate to contact me directly to discuss topics or proposals ([log in to unmask],
+49-1575-474-2789).
Important Dates
Workshop
Extended abstract submission: 15 February 2015
Acceptance notification: 15 March 2015
Full paper submission: 31 May 2015
Workshop:
19-20 June 2015
Special Issue
Revised paper submission:
30 August 2015
The questions we want to address in this workshop include, but are not limited to:
–
Frugal Innovation: How do Asian engineers "simplify and strip out" products to achieve cost-competiveness in their home base and other emerging markets? Which approaches
do Western firms adapt in these markets? What process and business model innovations can we observe in the East Asian automotive sector?
–
What are the institutional factors that enable radical innovations and leapfrogging in East Asia? E.g. what is the role of domestic consumers, governments and regulations,
or home country knowledge sources?
–
How does the internationalization of technology sourcing affect East Asian automotive firms and automotive suppliers (e.g. Chinese automaker Qoros or component purchasing
in East Asia for the BMW i3 model)?
–
Which organizational processes account for the success of firms like Hyundai and Toyota in bringing radical innovation to the mass-production stage? How
do theycombine the paradox of continuous improvement and “technological leaps” (see also Osonono, Shimizu & Takeuchi 2008)?
–
Are Asian carmakers such as Hyundai (Korea) and Geely or SAIC (China) better equipped to design cars for emerging market consumers? How can cost-advantages in production
be combined with innovative product development?
–
How do Asian carmakers globalize their product development activities to create innovation for their local consumers?
–
What is the role of supplier networks and business groups (i. e., Keiretsu, Chaebol) in the innovation process?
–
What patterns of supplier development strategies do we see by East Asian carmakers and to what extent do they transfer their supplier development strategies to other regions?
–
How do carmakers and suppliers from the emerging countries in East Asia deal with the increasing need to integrate diverse technological fields such as mechanics, electronics
and software in new car developments? Are these methods different than in the West?
–
How do automotive firms who invest in Chinese production and R&D units deal with problems of knowledge transfer and the danger of knowledge dispersion?
–
How do national and micro (organization level) innovation systems interact in East Asia in the introduction of new technologies such as electric vehicles? What are the
local challenges of standard setting in the automotive industry and how do they affect technology diffusion?
–
How can we judge the success of infant industry policies towards automotive firms in East Asia and what does this mean for carmakers in dynamic markets such as China?
–
How are new service industries created and coordinated around new vehicle technologies? What is the role of innovative start-ups and the SME sector in Asia?
We look forward to discussing these topics with you.
MfG / Best regards,
Roman Bartnik
----------------------
Dr. Roman Bartnik
IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies
University of Duisburg-Essen
Mobile: +49-1575-474-2789
Phone: +49-203 379-2664
Address: Geibelstraße 41, Room SG 188, 47057 Duisburg. Germany