Abstract
The following analysis observes the situation of the automotive industry in the European Union with a special focus on Germany and the German regions (NUTS 2 level), especially the Bergische Städtedreieck. A new indicator for the measurement of processes of structural change is introduced, whereby results stemming from international trade theory are implemented. It is shown that Germany compared to other countries exhibits significant comparative production and export advantages in all three subsectors of manufacturing of motor vehicles. Furthermore, it is shown for the European Union that regions with a comparative labor advantage in the automotive industry are mostly situated in the center of the EU. For Germany, this signifies that except for a few regions in the eastern part of the country, most regions exhibit comparative advantages in the automotive industry. The results also show that the Bergische Städtedreieck itself is surrounded by regions already established in the automotive industry which signifies a high potential for cooperation. Even though, a prognosis on the future development of the sector is only possible with some caveats, as the consolidation of the automotive industry especially in Germany has only been postponed but not concluded.
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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Perret, J.K. (2012). Specialization and Structural Change in the Automotive Industry in Selected European Regions. In: Welfens, P. (eds) Clusters in Automotive and Information & Communication Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25816-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25816-9_8
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