Title: Inertia and the strategic use of politics and power: a case study in the automotive industry

Authors: Frank den Hond

Addresses: Vrije Universiteit, Faculty of Social-Cultural Sciences, De Boelelaan 1081C, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: ||Inertia|| refers to the inability or unwillingness of companies to adapt to a changing external environment. The paper explores how the automotive industry collectively responded in the German and French policy arenas to regulatory pressure concerning a reduction in the amounts of waste remaining from the processing of end-of-life vehicles. It is argued that lack of change (inertia) may be the preferred business opportunity to industry, which is achieved by its strategic use of politics and power during the regulatory process.

Keywords: inertia; automotive industry; end-of-life vehicles; industry lobby; Germany; France; waste reduction; green issues; environmental management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1998.002689

International Journal of Technology Management, 1998 Vol.16 No.7, pp.641-654

Published online: 04 Jul 2003 *

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