The resurgence of the motor industry in Britain prompts a wider debate around worldwide automotive production and marketing
According to Dr Christos Pitelis, Director of the Centre for International Business and Management (CIBAM) at Cambridge Judge Business School, the global car industry faces a number of challenges.
He says the debate relates in part to the resurgence of the British motor industry but also to wider issues and changes around, among others, the American government’s rescue of General Motors.
In the car industry at the moment there are a number of very, very important developments that have to do with consolidation, with building common platforms, with continuous attempts for joint ventures aiming to bring costs down.
It’s a huge, fascinating topic and particularly interesting for us in Britain because we are the exception to the rule as we are not really facing these challenges but where the car industry has come back with a vengeance.”
Academics with interests in the motor sector and auto-industry specialists discussed the ‘Global Automotive Industry’ in CIBAM’s opening symposium of 2013. In addition to Dr Pitelis there were contributions from:
- Professor Christoph Loch, Director, Cambridge Judge Business School
- Manfred Tuerks, Chairman, Sunwood International
- Andrew Foster, Chief Engineer, Jaguar Land Rover
- David Herman, Chairman to the Board of Directors, Sollers
- Professor Garel Rhys CBE, SMMT Professor of Motor Industry Economics, and Director for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff Business School
- John Leech, Partner and Head of UK Automotive Practice, KPMG
- Dr Matthias Holweg, Director of the Centre for Process Excellence & Innovation (CPEI), Cambridge Judge Business School