Competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Automobile Industries

Abstract

ve automobile industries in that year, three are in East Asia. In 2001, Japan held second place, South Korea was in fi fth place, and China was in seventh place. This momentum is not likely to slow: production in China will increase to around 25 million by the mid-2010s and is likely to exceed the output of other countries. This study aims to analyze the international competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese automobile industries. In analyzing in detail the production, sales, and import–export statistics published by each country’s Automobile Manufacturer Association, we clarify the competitiveness of each country and the diff erences among them. 1 Many research studies have been undertaken on the competitiveness of the East Asian automobile industries (Tsuchiya et al., 2006). These studies analyze many aspects of automobile makers, such as their development, production, distribution, fi nance, supply chains, organizational capability, industrial policies of the government, and historical processes. There has been, however, a dearth of research on how the international competitiveness of a country’s automobile industry as a whole can be examined quantitatively. Most of the existing research touches only on production and export numbers as numerical indices of international competitiveness; furthermore, these numbers tend to be based only on the so-called Producer Country Base (as described later). This study analyzes the international competitiveness overall of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese automobile industries. Before starting the analysis, it is important to defi ne some key terms.