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Journal articles and books on Toyota's competitive advantage abound. More recent analyses tended to focus on Toyota alone (Coriat, 2000; Liker, 2004) while earlier literature examined the competitive advantage of the Japanese automobile industry as a whole (Asanuma, 1989; Womack, Jones, & Roos, 1990; Fruin, 1992; Dyer, 1994, 1996a, 1996b). Intensive analysis on the Toyota Production System (TPS) notwithstanding, what exactly constitutes the system's inimitability remains elusive. This paper contributes to existing literature by examining how a post-war industrial policy might have given rise to Toyota and Nissan adopting two different strategic logics (or governance structures) as each had a unique set of resources and competences. Different governance structures however, did not appear to contribute to inter-firm performance variance between the two competitors for at least 15 years. What then could be the source of Toyota's competitive advantage and its inimitability? This paper unravels how causal ambiguity might have confounded Nissan, Toyota's only significant domestic rival for the second half of the last century.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of FDI on the stock market development in Pakistan, both aggregate as well as sector wise, the reason being that no such work has been carried out in this context.

The study is based on secondary data for the period 1985‐2011. Johansen co‐integration approach is used for determining relationship among variables for aggregate stock market development in long run. Granger causality test is also applied to check the causal relation between the variables. Correlation analysis and regression analysis has been used for examining the relationship of sector wise development, FDI and economic growth in Pakistan.

The results support the positive role of FDI in boosting the aggregate stock market development in long run. Bi‐directional causality between FDI and economic growth has been found along with the uni‐directional causality between aggregate stock market development and economic growth. For sector wise development the relationship of FDI is positive in the sectors where FDI concentration is high in recent years whereas and negative in other sectors.

Co‐integration coefficients showed a positive and statistically strong relationship between FDI and aggregate market capitalization thus reflecting the complementary role of FDI in the stock market development of Pakistan.

During the last two decades, the Western automobile industry has undergone significant changes. These changes have affected not only the internal organization of firms, but also their vertical limits and relationships with suppliers. This paper proposes an analytical model based on the concept of relational intensity, which allows us to characterize and analyze the current relationships maintained between automakers and direct suppliers, using the Japanese model as a frame of reference. The proposed model is applied to the case of the Spanish automobile industry. The automobile assemblers located in Spain maintain relationships of varying intensity with different groups of suppliers. There are four variables that explain this relational intensity: the technical complexity of the part/component, the human capital and locational specificity, and the market power of the supplier.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how kitting, compared to continuous supply, affects the time spent by the assembler fetching parts in manual assembly.

The paper is based on an experimental setup at the Saab Automobile assembly plant in Trollhättan, Sweden. Experienced assemblers were studied as they performed the same assembly operations in ten different configurations. Each configuration consisted of a different arrangement in terms of how parts were presented. The use of kits to present parts was compared to parts presentation through continuous supply, where each part number was presented in a separate container.

The time for fetching parts is significantly shorter when parts are presented through kitting instead of through continuous supply. Furthermore, the shorter fetching time is not just related to a shorter distance between assembly object and parts presentation, which can often be achieved through kitting. The reduction of time spent searching for parts is also considerable.

The results of the paper provide valuable input in the design of assembly and materials supply systems, as they enable a better understanding of the relative performance of the materials feeding principles of kitting and continuous supply.

Previous studies of kitting and its impact on assembly are mostly conceptual or qualitative, whereas quantitative studies are scarce. The current paper provides a substantial contribution by quantifying the effects that kitting, compared to continuous supply, has on the time spent fetching parts.

The study aims to examine the influence of female chief executive officer (CEO) and female chief financial officer (CFO) on the linkage between internationalization and firm performance.

This study used 2926 firm-year observations of nonfinancial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange over the period 2012–2021. This study used ordinary least squares regression method to test the hypotheses, and additionally, generalized method of moments estimation and fixed effect analysis were used to check for the robustness of the results.

Using the framework of upper echelons theory and resource dependence theory, this study reports that internationalization has a positive impact on firm performance. Moreover, the results show that the presence of female CEO and female CFO strengthens the positive relationship between internationalization and firm performance. The results add to the gender diversity literature by highlighting the positive role of female CEOs and female CFOs on the internationalization and performance of firms in a male-dominated society.

This study adds to the limited literature on the internationalization of businesses in an emerging market and provides empirical support to upper echelons theory and resource dependence theory by highlighting the benefits brought to the firm through female CEOs and female CFOs.

The market and political conditions facing Japanese investment in automobile assembly in Western Europe are wholly different from those in North America. Argues in consequence that a distinctive set of questions is necessary in order to evaluate the likely consequences of such investment for the components sector. Within Western Europe, the “indigenous” automotive components industry has begun a process of restructuring, enabling it to face new demands of production and delivery characterized as “Just‐in‐Time”. Rather than relocate close to new vehicle assembly plants, creating spatially‐clustered production complexes, as some have suggested, a favoured solution has instead typically involved changes to logistical operations, enabling JIT delivery from existing Europe‐wide production systems. Outlines the reasons for this response and assesses some of its implications.

The paper presents some results and conclusions of a two‐year research project encompassing ten interacting companies belonging to the Brazilian automotive supply network. The goal of the research is to explore current practices in terms of the commercial relationship between them. Specifically, the attention was focused on identifying whether there are relevant imbalances in terms of bargaining power so that the overall performance of the supply network as a whole is jeopardised. Some interesting conclusions could be drawn from this exploratory study. Perhaps the most important is the clear indication that the issue of supply network management is neglected among the analysed companies. The emphasis has almost exclusively been placed on the relationship with immediate customers and suppliers. This can run important risks for the competitiveness of the Brazilian automotive industry. Some causes of the negligence with the theme are discussed and some simple corrective measures are proposed, based on some more contemporary contributions found in the recent literature and in some practices identified in Brazil outside the automotive industry.

Ten years ago, Resende was a peaceful town near a well-known mountain resort in the State of Rio de Janeiro and housing the famous military academy through which many of the military elite of Brazil have passed. Near the border of the State of São Paulo and beside the main road linking the cities of Rio and São Paulo, Resende seemed doomed to a slow existence with no bright future ahead. This paper draws upon on-going research into the social impacts of new developments that took place in Resende, after the inauguration of two big vehicle assemblers – Volkswagen’s bus and truck plant in 1996 and the Peugeot/Citroen car assembly plant in 2001. In the case of VW, the plant was also presented as a major development in vehicle assembly. The unique feature of the plant’s production system rests on the relationship between the assembler (VW) and its component suppliers. At Resende, these were involved in a joint enterprise to establish a “modular consortium” of production. In this system, the component suppliers finance a part of the factory and organise the assembly of their components on site. As such, few of the production workers are employed by VW whose main role in the process is to co-ordinate production and market the vehicle.

It is of concern that several attempts at making Nigeria an automobile producing country have not yielded much success. This paper aims to re-examine the history of automobile manufacturing and the consequences of auto policies of successive governments towards having a viable automotive industry in Nigeria and the lessons therefrom.

Dispersed data were assembled from both primary and secondary sources on the automobile industry activities in Nigeria. The historic data cover Nigeria’s vehicles need, production levels, importations and local content developments. Time series data on Nigeria’s crude oil prices and the devaluation of the local currency were obtained and analyzed to elucidate effects and provide the trajectory. A comparative analysis of the policies of successful countries with initial status with Nigeria was carried out to elucidate the policy pitfalls in Nigeria’s industrial policies.

The automotive policies in Nigeria are not self-sustaining. It has been curiously observed that the automotive policy on import substitution and local content development approach did not include the key components in automobile manufacturing, making it a footloose industry. Nigeria’s crude petroleum mono-economy affects the manufacturing sector negatively. A fall in international crude oil price causes free fall of the country’s currency in the international market, the cost of imported new vehicles and parts become prohibitively high, consequently, individuals, as well as corporate organizations, resorted to imported fairly used vehicles and parts for their transportation needs. Capacity utilization dropped abysmally.

Nigeria’s experience has demonstrated the critical role the government can play in safeguarding the automobile industry in the developing economies. Apart from diversification of the economy, there is a need, therefore, for a more refined and pragmatic approach in the formulation of policies to enable only genuine investors to operate in the automobile industry which hitherto has been an all-comers affair with many taking advantage of unguarded and unguided government incentives.

The auto industry has undergone substantial structural and other change in the last 20 years. The influences of globalisation, implementation of lean production and the development of modularisation have had profound influences on the relationships between automobile assemblers (OEMs) and their suppliers, in particular those in the first tier. In the age of e‐business and global outsourcing the development of supplier parks could be argued to be surprising. This paper briefly outlines the development of supplier parks as part of the auto industry supply chain and offers some potential theoretical perspectives on why they have emerged.