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*** Apologies for cross-posting! ***

Are you working on automotive or mobility-related research?

Would you like to discuss your work with other scholars in the field?

Are you interested in submitting your work to a special issue of ICC -

Industrial and Corporate Change?

Then apply to join the PDW

From (auto)mobile to mobility: technological change and innovation in the global vehicle industry

to be held at the AOM Conference in Orlando this year!

Primary Sponsor: Technology and Innovation Management (TIM)

Co-Sponsors: Business Policy & Strategy (BPS), International Management (IM), Asia Academy of Management (AAM), Indian Academy of Management (INDAM)

Saturday, Aug 10 2013 3:45PM - 7:45PM at WDW Swan Resort in Parrott 1&2

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This PDW is designed to facilitate interaction among researchers interested in innovation and technological change in the context of the global automotive industry. The global automotive industry is undergoing a transition from being a product, sales and after-sales-service focused industry prioritizing customers and markets of developed economies to being a global sector for mobility, characterized by a larger variety of technologies, products, services, and business models than ever before. While the increasing importance of emerging markets and new customer needs are important drivers of this change, environmental considerations along with governmental regulations and the rapid development of new technologies are also having a major impact on the evolutionary trajectory of this sector.

The purpose of the ICC special issue is to provide a forum for articles exploring these themes, favoring submissions on topics that have been under-researched so far, and encouraging conceptual arguments and empirical data analyses that link well to  related issues of significant academic and managerial interest. We expect all papers to be related to innovation, technology, and change in the global automotive and mobility sectors.

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The PDW is organized as follows:

Part 1 (open part):

Presentations and discussion featuring research on changes in the global vehicle industry.

Panelist 1: Ram Mudambi (Temple U.), Emerging market firm responses to globalization in the Indian automotive industry.

Panelist 2: Rafael Corredoira (U. of Maryland), Pull or Push? Innovation and firm's adaptation to value chain transformation in the Argentinean autopart industry.

Panelist 3: Kevin Miceli (U. of North Carolina), Evolution of sustainable technologies: The case of hybrid-electric vehicles.

Panelist 4: Michael Jacobides (London Business School), When value sticks around: Why automobile OEMs still rule their sector.

Discussant: John Paul MacDuffie (U. of Pennsylvania)

Networking coffee break sponsored by the Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovations (PVMI) at the Wharton School's Mack Center for Technological Innovation (the former International Motor Vehicle Program, IMVP).

Part 2 (paper submission and pre-registration):

Paper development workshop in preparation for a special issue with ICC – Industrial and Corporate Change

Introduction by the three special issue editors Florian Täube (EBS University), Anja Schulze (ETH Zurich), John Paul MacDuffie (U. of Pennsylvania) and by an ICC editor.

Round table paper development discussions: all participants

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Key dates

Registration and paper submission to PDW: June 1, 2013.          
(Please register at AOM Website https://secure.aomonline.org/PDWReg and please send paper submissions to: ICC.SI.Auto@gmail.com)

PDW: August 10, 2013, 3:45 pm – 7:45 pm

Paper submission to ICC Special Issue: December 31, 2013

For more details, please see below or have a look at the conference program:

http://program.aomonline.org/2013/Session_Details.asp?print=true&SubmissionID=12554

Note that we anticipate a follow-on activity in connection with the 2014 AOM Annual Conference, to be held in Philadelphia, for the authors of papers invited to a revise & resubmit for the ICC special issue.  This paper development workshop will be held at Wharton adjoining the AOM conference.  More details will follow after the ICC special issue submission date. 

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando! 

Florian Täube, EBS Business School

Anja Schulze, ETH Zurich

John Paul MacDuffie, U. of Pennsylvania

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Further PDW details

The global automotive industry is in a state of greater uncertainty than ever before. In addition to turbulence in technologies and markets, established players in the West (and Japan) are now facing new competition from two sides. Firstly, there are newcomers from emerging markets, such as China or India that are quickly appearing on the global stage. Secondly, the heart of the car – engine technology – is rapidly changing and new players from previously unrelated sectors of electricity generation and storage are entering the stage, e.g. Evonik (Germany) or Samsung (Korea) or start-ups based on business models with electric cars like Tesla or Better Place. The global automotive industry is undergoing a transition from being a product, sales and after-sales-service focused industry prioritizing customers and markets of developed economies to being a global sector for mobility, characterized by a larger variety of technologies, products, services, and business models than ever before. This emerging global mobility market (offering solutions to people to get from A to B) is influenced by factors such as the rise of emerging markets, urbanization and urban growth (in particular in emerging markets), emission regulation, and scarce (fossil) and new (renewable) energy resources. This implies changes to the industry as a whole as well as to corporations.

-       New technologies and product architectures allow new firms to enter the market and become part of the supply chain.

-       Technological changes affecting the engine (or drive train), the core of automotive dominant design, significantly impact not only car components, but also the product architecture, the operator model, and the entire supply chain.

-       Emerging markets bring new customers with particular needs as well as new entrants that quickly appear as competitors on the global stage. Firms such as Tata, BYD and Geely are emerging as global players through acquisitions of western firms such as Jaguar and Land Rover or Volvo as well as by the growth opportunities presented by the sheer size of the Chinese and Indian domestic markets; .likewise, the Latin American market is booming.

-       The shift of environmental consciousness and related governmental regulations provide potential for new business models to be introduced into the market as well as opportunities for new technologies to be developed and diffused, even though the market for so-called "green" vehicles is so far growing more slowly than expected.

These industry changes have far reaching implications. A number of value creating areas of the traditional (auto)mobile industry are undergoing significant change as a result of the emergence of new technologies, competitors, and markets as well as environment-concerned governmental regulations. Mobility markets are experiencing significant and at times radical changes to the way they do business. For example, a number of OEMs now engage in car sharing activities in larger cities in addition to selling cars, for instance car2go by Daimler/smart rolled out in selected cities in Europe and North America or Mu by Peugeot in France and the UK. How the sector organizes engineering, supply chain and operations, marketing, and retail management has started to change as well, although the direction of that evolution is not yet known.  In this PDW we will speak about how organizations and institutions hailing from different geographies and sectors are becoming increasingly connected and interdependent. In particular, this PDW will touch upon:

-       how novel business models will generate competitive advantage

-       how supply chains, industry networks, and forms of collaboration change (the shift to completely different powertrain technology brings with it a very different set of new competitors – or collaborators. For instance, leading supplier Bosch of Germany is working with Samsung on battery technology.

-       how firms manage the transition induced by new technologies and business models (German OEM Daimler teamed up with Chinese BYD and Tesla, as well as competitor BMW in advanced research to catch up with Japanese hybrid technology; on the other hand Nissan and GM are playing more independent strategies and electric-focused strategies.)

-       what industry structures will persist despite the turbulence

-       what role does standardization play for the diffusion of new technologies and business models

-       what types of products will traditional and new companies produce in the future, with what portfolio of existing and new technologies

-       how this new competitive and institutional environment affects the product architecture

-       how the industry deals with environmental issues and greater regulation

-       how do companies size up and realize business opportunities that are offered by new business fields

-       how companies respond to but also contribute to changing consumer wants and needs

-       how firms in conjunction with government and industry associations contribute to re-conceptualizing mobility (e.g., from owning a car to sharing a car)

The first part of the PDW comprises a brief introduction and four presentations on the main research themes and discussion topics related to changes in the global vehicle industry. For example, more and more emerging economy MNEs are materializing in world markets. Firms like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bharat Forge have sprung, seemingly fully grown into the global competitive landscape. However, prior to appearing on competitors' radar screens, such firms typically undertook a series of strategic actions that enabled them to become capable players in global value chains. These presentations will familiarize the audience with the context showing parallels and differences in terms of macro variables such as market evolution and consumer preferences as well as more micro ones of firm strategy, such as technology and product development, sourcing, (international) acquisitions or modularization. Also covered will be current research on issues such as the internationalization of (emerging economy) firms, the management of technological innovation, and strategic management in times of industry disruption and (re-)emergence. The final presentation will touch upon factors that underpin stability in the automobile sector and that may, at times, outweigh forces of change. The first part of the PDW will be concluded by a discussant, integrating the different features and relating them into a larger picture.

The second part of the PDW comprises a paper development workshop related to a special issue by ICC on the theme. It will be opened by the special issue editors, introducing the primary themes  and range of potential topics to be covered in the special issue. In addition, one of the ICC editors will join the PDW, introducing the scope of the journal and clarifying expectations for contributions and submissions. This will be followed by round table discussions involving all participants in the first part of the PDW in addition to the special issue editors and the journal's editor. Submitting a paper and pre-registration will be required to participate in part 2.