Une comparaison de la fragmentation internationale des chaînes d’approvisionnement automobiles allemande et française

• Main Author: Vincent Frigant
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association Recherche & Régulation 2014-06-01
• Series: Revue de la Régulation
• Subjects: modularity; international trade; international fragmentation; global value chain; automobile industry; France
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/regulation/10676

This paper compares the internationalisation of the German and French automobile supply networks. We propose a method for studying the international fragmentation of supply networks using the trade exchanges data. We construct a typology for auto parts based on the modularity approach and we identify three types of parts: components, meso-components and macro-components. Then we study the evolution of trade for France and Germany for 44 parts during the period 2000/2010. We show that the two countries organize differently their own supply networks with 1) a selective consolidation or decline according to the place of the part along the value chain and 2) a geographic discrimination of their imports (typically Eastern Europe for Germany and Western Europe for France). We conclude by some suggestions for improving this methodology.