Title: Emergent integration: the creation of an enlarged European Automobile Space under institutional uncertainty

Authors: Rob Van Tulder

Addresses: Department of Business-Society Management, RSM Erasmus University, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: The 2004 enlargement of the European Union with ten new member states represents a problem of |emergent integration| – the creation of new institutions under sizable degrees of uncertainty. This paper specifies three types of uncertainty (entry, institutional and strategic uncertainty) and assesses to what extent these uncertainties have influenced the position of the new member states in a particular regional division of labour. The paper documents and illustrates the dynamic interaction of firm and government strategies and their outcome for a sector that contains important |agents of change| and the largest foreign direct investors in most Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries – the car industry.

Keywords: emergent institutions; regional integration; uncertainty; automobile industry; Central and Eastern Europe; CEE; European Union; EU new member states; division of labour; corporate strategy; government strategy; foreign direct investment; FDI; automotive investment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2008.022322

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2008 Vol.8 No.5, pp.581 - 602

Published online: 31 Dec 2008 *

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