Product development in the context of the automotive industry supply chains

Abstract

In the Brazilian Automotive Industry, the Product Development activities have been influenced by changes on supply chains resulting from the investments made by new assemblers in order to install new assembly plants in the country, consolidation and denationalization of the auto-part industry, as well as the impacts of phenomena specific to the Brazilian scenario like the 1000cc and bi-fuelled engines. This work aims at comparing the degree of technological autonomy conquered by the engine assemblers installed in Brazil, as well as analysing the Product Development activities that those branches accomplish together with their suppliers. In this sense we try to verify how the relationships between the companies inside these chains are, how the Product Development activities and competencies are distributed along them, and how it is managed by the assemblers. Generally, the Product Development activities of these assemblers are very similar and oriented to local competitiveness. The differences take place as a result of their supply chain structures and of their supplying policies.

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