Title: The involvement of Japanese MNEs in the Indonesian automotive cluster

Authors: Dessy Irawati, David Charles

Addresses: Newcastle University – Business School, 1st Floor-Citywall-Citygate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JH, UK. ' Curtin Business School – Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia

Abstract: The Indonesian Government has applied a form of cluster policy in the automotive sector drawing upon multinational enterprises (MNEs) to develop the dynamic capabilities of the industry. Cluster policies are seen by the government as a way to enhance competencies within the automotive cluster in Indonesia, particularly the work organisation for flexible production systems and skills, as well as building up the global-local production networks. Case studies of Toyota and Honda in Indonesia examine the international transfer of technology seen through the perspective of work organisation, in order to assess whether sophisticated Japanese production management technology has been successfully transplanted into Indonesia. These case studies investigate whether there is a successful catching up process, where MNEs through top-down knowledge transfer, are able to advance Indonesian|s technological capability in the automotive industry.

Keywords: automotive policy; multinational enterprises; MNEs; industrial clusters; automotive technology; knowledge transfer; networks; Japan; Indonesia; automobile industry; Toyota; Honda; technology transfer; work organisation; production management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2010.032623

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.10 No.2/3, pp.180 - 196

Published online: 09 Apr 2010 *

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