IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tsa/wpaper/0001eco.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The German Motor Vehicle Industry: Costs and Crisis During the late 1980s and 1990s, Japanese expertise with their flexible and efficient motor vehicle manufacturing system posed a substantial challenge to the German automobile industry. The German industry, renowned for its high quality, struggled to maintain its competitiveness in the new environment. This research investigates cost characteristics of the German motor vehicle industry, using a translog cost function to examine economies of scale, relationships among the input pairs, and other issues involving the industry between 1975 and 2007. The findings include that German automobile production still has available economies of scale at its maximum output level; that the input pairs of capital and labor, capital and insourced intermediate goods as well as labor and insourced intermediate goods are complements, while the other input pairs are substitutes. However, not all of these input relationships are statistically significant. The industry has increased its use of imported (outsourced) inputs, and labor demand has become more sensitive to its own price as well as that of outsourced inputs. The results also suggest that the recent restructuring of the industry has been successful in increasing its international competitiveness

Author

Listed:
  • TINA M. Lila J. Truett

    (The University of Texas at San Antonio)

  • TINA M. Dale B. Truett

    (The University of Texas at San Antonio)

Abstract

No abstract is available for this item.

Suggested Citation

  • TINA M. Lila J. Truett & TINA M. Dale B. Truett, 2013. "The German Motor Vehicle Industry: Costs and Crisis During the late 1980s and 1990s, Japanese expertise with their flexible and efficient motor vehicle manufacturing system posed a substantial challen," Working Papers 0001, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    • Handle: RePEc:tsa:wpaper:0001eco
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://interim.business.utsa.edu/wps/eco/0001ECO-102-2013.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leoncini, Riccardo & Montresor, Sandro, 2001. "The automobile technological systems : An empirical analysis of four European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1321-1340, October.
    2. Christoph Knoppik & Thomas Beissinger, 2003. "How Rigid are Nominal Wages? Evidence and Implications for Germany," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(4), pages 619-641, December.
    3. Eckhard Hein & Achim Truger, 2005. "What ever happened to Germany? Is the decline of the former european key currency country caused by structural sclerosis or by macroeconomic mismanagement?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 3-28.
    4. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2003. "The Italian Automotive Industry and Economies of Scale," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 21(3), pages 329-337, July.
    5. Julius Spatz & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2002. "Globalization of the Automobile Industry - Traditional Locations under Pressure?," Aussenwirtschaft, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science, Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economics Research, vol. 57(04), pages 469-494, December.
    6. Tybout, James R. & Westbrook, M. Daniel, 1995. "Trade liberalization and the dimensions of efficiency change in Mexican manufacturing industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 53-78, August.
    7. Eckhard Hein & Achim Truger, 2007. "Germany’s Post-2000 Stagnation in the European Context — a Lesson in Macroeconomic Mismanagement," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Philip Arestis & Eckhard Hein & Edwin Heron (ed.), Aspects of Modern Monetary and Macroeconomic Policies, chapter 12, pages 223-247, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Harald Uhlig, 2006. "Regional Labor Markets, Network Externalities and Migration: The Case of German Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 383-387, May.
    9. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 2007. "A cost-based analysis of scale economies in the French auto industry," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 369-382.
    10. Kerkvliet, Joe & McMullen, B Starr, 1997. "The Impact of Unionization on Motor Carrier Costs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 271-284, April.
    11. Snower, Dennis J. & Merkl, Christian, 2006. "The caring hand that cripples: The East German labor market after reunification (detailed version)," Kiel Working Papers 1263, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    12. Addison, John T & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2001. "Work Councils in Germany: Their Effects on Establishment Performance," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 659-694, October.
    13. Lila Truett & Dale Truett, 2006. "Production and costs in the South African motor vehicle industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(20), pages 2381-2392.
    14. Dennis J. Snower & Christian Merkl, 2006. "The Caring Hand that Cripples: The East German Labor Market after Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 375-382, May.
    15. Berndt, Ernst R. & Christensen, Laurits R., 1973. "The translog function and the substitution of equipment, structures, and labor in U.S. manufacturing 1929-68," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 81-113, March.
    16. Eakin, B Kelly & McMillen, Daniel P & Buono, Mark J, 1990. "Constructing Confidence Intervals Using the Bootstrap: An Application to a Multi-Product Cost Function," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 339-344, May.
    17. Christensen, Laurits R & Greene, William H, 1976. "Economies of Scale in U.S. Electric Power Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 655-676, August.
    18. Sang V Nguyen & Arnold P Reznek, 1990. "Returns to Scale in Small and Large U.S. Manufacturing Establishments," Working Papers 90-11, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    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. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 2014. "The South Korean auto industry's path to maturity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 86-94.
    2. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2003. "The Italian Automotive Industry and Economies of Scale," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 21(3), pages 329-337, July.
    3. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2011. "The South Korean Auto Industry: All Grown Up Now? Since 1962, South Korea has recognized the motor vehicle industry as a critical industry for economic development. The government has been closely inv," Working Papers 0011, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    4. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 2017. "The German motor vehicle industry: Costs and crisis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 49-55.
    5. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2011. "Whither Germany and the EMU In a Challenging Environment?," Working Papers 0019, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    6. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2011. "The South Korean Auto Industry: All Grown Up Now? Since 1962, South Korea has recognized the motor vehicle industry as a critical industry for economic development. The government has been closely inv," Working Papers 0011, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    7. Truett, Lila J. & Truett, Dale B., 2010. "Globalization challenges for the Mexican textile industry," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 733-741, October.
    8. Lila Truett & Dale Truett, 2014. "A ray of hope? Another look at the Italian textile industry," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 525-542, March.
    9. Lila J. Truett & Dale Truett, 2009. "A Bacon of Hope? Another Look at the Italian Textile Industry," Working Papers 0060, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    10. Mertens, Matthias & Mueller, Steffen, 2022. "The East-West German gap in revenue productivity:Just a tale of output prices?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 815-831.
    11. repec:zbw:ifwkwp:1309 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2008. "Escaping the unemployment trap: The case of East Germany," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 542-556, December.
    13. Julia Jauer & Thomas Liebig & John P. Martin & Patrick Puhani, 2014. "Migration as an Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis? A Comparison of Europe and the United States," Working Paper Series in Economics 331, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    14. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2005. "Nafta¡¯S Impact On The Mexican Automotive Sector," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 155-176, December.
    15. Alexander Kupfer & Julia Oberndorfer & Felix Kunz, 2022. "Why do corporate cash holdings differ within reunified Germany?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 197-232, February.
    16. Lila J. Truett, 2010. "The Korean Textile Industry: Still Competitive, After All These Years?," Working Papers 0004, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    17. Burda, Michael C., 2008. "What kind of shock was it? Regional integration and structural change in Germany after unification," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 557-567, December.
    18. Robert Orlowski & Regina T. Riphahn, 2008. "The East German Wage Structure after Transition," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 148, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    19. Volker Grossmann & Thomas Steger, 2013. "Konvergieren die Einkommen zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland? Das deutsch-deutsche Experiment aus wachstumsökonomischer Sicht," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 20(02), pages 29-32, April.
    20. Rainer, Helmut & Siedler, Thomas, 2009. "Does democracy foster trust?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 251-269, June.
    21. Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Izem, Rima, 2012. "Explaining the low labor productivity in East Germany – A spatial analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-21.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Globalization; Germany; Motor Vehicle Industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing

    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:tsa:wpaper:0001eco. 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: Wendy Frost (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cbutsus.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.