Title: Automotive global production networks in peripheral locations: convergent divergence patterns of institutionalisation

Authors: Tugba Gurcaylilar-Yenidogan; Hilal Erkus

Addresses: Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey ' Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

Abstract: The rise of international networks of production and participation in Global Value Chains (GVCs) does matter also for national comparatives over institutional interactions of governance. GVC literature pays little attention to the political economy of inter-firm governance. Global Production Networks (GPNs) provide a broader explanation of the interaction of global and local governance by considering the collective behaviour of actors, institutions, national business systems and power relations in value-chain governance. With this in mind, the present study explores the modes of governance in GPNs by unveiling the role of institutions, institutional complementarities and national business systems in different local sourcing strategies of automakers and auto-parts suppliers in the Turkish automotive sector. To this end, we carry out qualitative and quantitative research (including k-means clustering and correspondence analyses), respectively, on the buyer and supplier sides of the Turkish automotive sector as an attractive environment for foreign investments in GPNs. The findings verify the roles of institutions in the different modes of governance emerging in automaker-supplier relations, and more specifically, reveal a pattern of convergent divergence of institutionalism within the Turkish automotive sector.

Keywords: global production networks; institutional complementarity; automotive industry; modes of governance; national business systems.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2024.141655

European Journal of International Management, 2024 Vol.24 No.3/4, pp.454 - 486

Received: 07 Apr 2022
Accepted: 09 Jan 2023
Published online: 30 Sep 2024 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article