IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/341338.html

A lose-lose game? The twin transition and the division of labor in the European automotive supplier industry

Author

Listed:
  • Krzywdzinski, Martin
  • Martišková, Monika
  • Gažo, Patrik
  • Guga, Ştefan
  • Meszmann, Tibor
  • Rakowska, Katarzyna

Abstract

The twin transition - automation/digitalization and the shift to electromobility - poses major challenges for the European automotive supplier industry. This article examines how these transformations reshape plant roles and labor-use strategies in Germany and Central and Eastern/South Eastern Europe (CEE/SEE), regions historically linked through an integrated division of labor. The paper addresses three questions: (1) How have lead plant functions evolved between 2016 and 2024? (2) What differences do we observe between German and CEE/SEE automotive supplier plants with regard to the twin transition? (3) What differences do we observe between Germany and CEE/SEE with regard to labor-use strategies? The analysis draws on two surveys of employee representatives in supplier plants (Germany and five CEE/SEE countries) conducted in 2016 and 2024. Findings indicate slight erosion of German lead plant roles without corresponding upgrade in CEE/SEE; limited but stronger efforts in Germany toward electromobility; and persistent national differences in automation and labor-use strategies, with Germany maintaining high-skill approaches and CEE/SEE relying primarily on semi- and low-skilled labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Krzywdzinski, Martin & Martišková, Monika & Gažo, Patrik & Guga, Ştefan & Meszmann, Tibor & Rakowska, Katarzyna, 2026. "A lose-lose game? The twin transition and the division of labor in the European automotive supplier industry," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:341338
    DOI: 10.1177/09596801261454480
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/341338/1/Full-text-article-Krzywdzinski-et-al-A-lose-lose-game.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09596801261454480?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomasz Olejniczak & Milosz Miszczynski & Masato Itohisa, 2020. "Between closure and Industry 4.0: strategies of Japanese automotive manufacturers in Central and Eastern Europe in reaction to labour market changes," International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(2), pages 196-214.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ling Li, 2024. "Reskilling and Upskilling the Future-ready Workforce for Industry 4.0 and Beyond," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1697-1712, October.
    2. CARBONELL Juan Sebastian, 2024. "In search of the twin transition: the limited performativity of the « green and digital » transitions in the European automotive industry," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2024-05, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Sonntag, Martin & Mehmann, Jens & Teuteberg, Frank, 2021. "Application of Industry 4.0 in the automotive sector," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. & Blecker, Thorsten (ed.), Adapting to the Future: How Digitalization Shapes Sustainable Logistics and Resilient Supply Chain Management. Proceedings of the Hamburg Internationa, volume 31, pages 151-182, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:341338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.