IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v24y2005i1p79-95.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Locational and Functional Behavior of U.S. Autoparts Suppliers

Author

Listed:
  • Ho Kim

Abstract

The free trade agreement with Mexico was expected to help U.S. autoparts suppliers move southward to take advantage of low labor cost, but this has not yet happened. We can find explanations for this rather perplexing phenomenon through analyzing the outcome of a postal survey conducted just before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. The responses from the suppliers highlight the apparent hierarchy in the lean produc-tion system and its impact on the location choices of the parts-manufacturing firms. Despite advances in transportation and telecommunication technologies, the need to maintain short distance with respect to customers is still the single most important consideration in their decision-making. Given the reluctance on the part of the vehicle assemblers, a mass migration of suppliers to Mexico seems unlikely, although it is true that they are quite attracted to the low wages offered south of the border. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005

Suggested Citation

  • Ho Kim, 2005. "The Locational and Functional Behavior of U.S. Autoparts Suppliers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 79-95, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:24:y:2005:i:1:p:79-95
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-005-3099-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11187-005-3099-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-005-3099-9?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Clyde Hufbauer & Jeffrey J. Schott, 1992. "North American Free Trade: Issues and Recommendations," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 71, January.
    2. Markusen, James R. & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Hunter, Linda, 1995. "Trade liberalization in a multinational-dominated industry," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1-2), pages 95-117, February.
    3. Ho Yeon Kim, 2003. "Impact of trade liberalization on the location of firms: NAFTA and the automobile industry," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 37(1), pages 149-173, February.
    4. Mary Amiti, 1998. "Trade Liberalisation and the Location of Manufacturing Firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 953-962, September.
    5. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Diego Puga, 1998. "Agglomeration in the Global Economy: A Survey of the ‘New Economic Geography’," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 707-731, August.
    6. McCann, Philip & Fingleton, Bernard, 1996. "The Regional Agglomeration Impact of Just-in-Time Input Linkages: Evidence from the Scottish Electronics Industry," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 43(5), pages 493-518, November.
    7. Smith Jr. , Donald F. & Florida Richard, 1994. "Agglomeration and Industrial Location: An Econometric Analysis of Japanese-Affiliated Manufacturing Establishments in Automotive-Related Industries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 23-41, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vincent FRIGANT & Martin ZUMPE, 2014. "The persistent heterogeneity of trade patterns: A comparison of four European Automotive Global Production Networks," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2014-24, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    2. Lee, Chaehwa & Wilhelm, Wilbert, 2010. "On integrating theories of international economics in the strategic planning of global supply chains and facility location," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 225-240, March.
    3. Vincent FRIGANT & Martin ZUMPE, 2014. "Are automotive Global Production Networks becoming more global? Comparison of regional and global integration processes based on auto parts trade data," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2014-09, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).

    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. Adelheid Holl & Rafael Pardo & Ruth Rama, 2013. "Spatial patterns of adoption of just-in-time manufacturing," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(1), pages 51-67, March.
    2. Jörg MAYER, 2004. "Industrialization In Developing Countries: Some Evidence From A New Economic Geography Perspective," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 174, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    3. H. Fredrick Gale, 1999. "Adoption of Just-in-time Manufacturing By Rural and Urban Plants," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 29(2), pages 157-174, Fall.
    4. Adelheid Holl & Rafael Pardo & Ruth Rama, 2010. "Just-in-Time Manufacturing Systems, Subcontracting and Geographic Proximity," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 519-533.
    5. Vasco Leite & Sofia Castro & João Correia-da-Silva, 2009. "The core periphery model with asymmetric inter-regional and intra-regional trade costs," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 8(1), pages 37-44, April.
    6. Harris, Richard G. & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2001. "Strategic export policy with foreign direct investment and import substitution," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 293-312, February.
    7. Bommer, Rolf, 1995. "Environmental policy and industrial competitiveness: The pollution haven hypothesis reconsidered," Discussion Papers, Series II 262, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    8. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    9. Cigno, Alessandro & Rosati, Furio C. & Guarcello, Lorenzo, 2002. "Does Globalization Increase Child Labor?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1579-1589, September.
    10. Kitterer, Wolfgang, 2002. "Die Ausgestaltung der Mittelzuweisungen im Solidarpakt II," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 02-1, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    11. Frode Steen, 2002. "Vertical Industry Linkages: Sources of Productivity Gains and Cumulative Causation?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 21(1), pages 3-20, August.
    12. Sylvain Barde, 2007. "Stable Partial Agglomeration in a New Economic Geography Model with Urban Frictions," Studies in Economics 0702, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    13. Festus Ebo Turkson, 2012. "Trade Agreements and Bilateral Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa: Estimating the Trade Effects of the EU-ACP PTA and RTAs," Discussion Papers 12/07, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    14. Alberto Franco Pozzolo, 2004. "Research and Development, Regional Spillovers and the Location of Economic Activities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 72(4), pages 463-482, July.
    15. Jens Suedekum, 2006. "Concentration and Specialization Trends in Germany since Re-unification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(8), pages 861-873.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8001 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Linda M. Aguilar, 1993. "NAFTA: a review of the issues," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 17(Jan), pages 12-20.
    18. Patricia Fernández-Kelly & Douglas S. Massey, 2007. "Borders for Whom? The Role of NAFTA in Mexico-U.S. Migration," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 610(1), pages 98-118, March.
    19. J.Peter Neary, 2001. "Of Hype and Hyperbolas: Introducing the New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 536-561, June.
    20. Roberto Ezcurra & Pedro Pascual, 2006. "Factor decomposition of spatial disparities: The case of the European regions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 18(6), pages 1-6.
    21. Robert M. Stern, 2000. "Quantifying Barriers to Trade in Services," Working Papers 470, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.

    More about this item

    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:kap:sbusec:v:24:y:2005:i:1:p:79-95. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.